  PIAZZA DEL POPOLO—THE OBELISK—S. MARIA DEL POPOLO—THE CORSO—S. LORENZO IN LUCINA—POST OFFICE—ENGLISH CHURCH—COLUMN OF MARCUS AURELIUS—MONTE CITORIO—PARLIAMENT HOUSE—OBELISK—TEMPLE OF NEPTUNE—S. MARIA IN VIA LATA—THE SEPTA—THE DORIA GALLERY—TOMBS OF ATTIA CLAUDIA AND BIBULUS—THE MAMERTINE PRISON—THE FORUM OF JULIUS CÆSAR—THE ROMAN FORUM AND ITS RUINS—THE VIA SACRA—TEMPLES OF ROMULUS, VENUS AND ROMA—TEMPLE OF THE PENATES—HOUSE OF JULIUS CÆSAR—BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE—S. FRANCISCA ROMANA—THE PALATINE HILL AND THE PALACE OF THE CÆSARS—ARCH OF TITUS—THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN—THE FORUM OF CUPID—PEDESTAL OF NERO'S COLOSSUS—META SUDANS—ARCH OF CONSTANTINE—THE COLOSSEUM. THE CENTRE OF ROME. PIAZZA DEL POPOLO. THE PIAZZA DEL POPOLOis a circular open space, adorned with fountains, and surrounded with foliage. From this circle Rome spreads itself out like a fan southwards. The four principal lines of thoroughfare diverge from this spot—the Pincio, the Via Sistina, and the Via Quattro Fontane, leading to the Esquiline, on the extreme left, along the hills; the Via Babuino, leading into the Piazza di Spagna, on the left; the Corso, leading into the Forum, in the centre; and the Via Ripetta, leading into the oldest part of the present city, on the right: at the corners of the three latter are the twin churches S. Maria in Monte THE EGYPTIAN OBELISKof the Piazza del Popolo was brought to Rome by Augustus, and erected in the Circus Maximus. It is 78 feet 6 inches high, and was erected on its present site by Pope Sixtus V. in 1589. This was the first obelisk erected in Rome, having been brought by Augustus after the death of Antony and Cleopatra. Pliny (xxxvi. 16) says:— "But the most difficult enterprise of all was the carriage of these obelisks by sea to Rome, in vessels which excited the greatest admiration. Indeed, the late Emperor Augustus consecrated the one which brought over the first obelisk, as a lasting memorial of this marvellous undertaking, in the docks at Puteoli; but it was destroyed by fire. "And then, besides, there was the necessity of constructing other vessels to carry these obelisks up the Tiber; by which it became practically ascertained that the depth of water in that river is not less than that of the river Nile. "The one that he erected in the Campus Martius is nine feet less in height, and was originally made by order of Sesothis. They are both of them covered with inscriptions which interpret the operations of Nature according to the philosophy of the Egyptians." This has the name of two kings upon it: Seti, who went blind, and his son Rameses, who succeeded him. It stood before the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, and was placed by Augustus on the Spina of the Circus Maximus, and re-dedicated, 10 B.C., to the Sun, as the inscription informs us: IMP. CAES. DIVI. F.—AUGUSTUS—PONTIFEX MAXIMUS—IMP. XII. COS. XI. TRIB. POT.—POPULI ROMANI REDACTA.—SOLI DONUM DEDIT. Ammianus Marcellinus (xvii. 4) supplies us with the following information relative to obelisks:— "In this city of Thebes, among many works of art and different structures recording the tales relating to the Egyptian deities, we saw several obelisks in their places, and others which had been "Now, an obelisk is a rough stone, rising to a great height, shaped like a pillar in the stadium; and it tapers upwards in imitation of a sunbeam, keeping its quadrilateral shape, till it rises almost to a point, being made smooth by the hand of a sculptor. "On these obelisks the ancient authority of elementary wisdom has caused innumerable marks of strange forms all over them, which are called hieroglyphics. "For the workmen, carving many kinds of birds and beasts, some even such as must belong to another world, in order that the recollection of the exploits which the obelisk was designed to commemorate might reach to subsequent ages, showed by them the accomplishment of vows which the kings had made. "For it was not the case then, as it is now, that the established number of letters can distinctly express whatever the human mind conceives; nor did the ancient Egyptians write in such a manner, but each separate character served for a separate noun or verb, and sometimes even for an entire sentence. "Of which fact the two following may for the present be sufficient instances:—By the figure of a vulture they indicate the name of nature; because naturalists declare that no males are found in this class of bird. And by the figure of a bee making honey they indicate a king; showing by such a sign that stings as well as sweetness are the characteristics of a ruler. And there are many similar emblems." To the right of the Porta del Popolo is the CHURCH OF S. MARIA DEL POPOLO,founded by Paschal II. in 1099. Its interior consists of nave, aisles, transept, and octagonal dome lavishly decorated by Bernini. In the first chapel, to the right, the picture over the altar, the Nativity of Jesus Christ, and the frescoes of the lunettes are by Pinturicchio. The second chapel is that of the Cibo family—rich in marbles, and adorned with forty-six columns of Sicilian jasper. The picture of the Conception is by Maratta. The third chapel is painted by Pinturicchio. In the fourth chapel is an interesting bas-relief of the fifteenth century. The painting of the Virgin, on the high altar, is one of those attributed to S. Luke; the paintings of the vault in the THE CORSO (Il Corso).Starting on our first ramble, we will take the line of the principal street, the Corso, which takes its name from the races held during the Carnival. It is on the line of the old Via Flaminia, the great highroad which ran through the Campus Martius to the north. Many handsome churches and palaces face the street, which is rather narrow compared with our modern requirements. The Corso is the principal promenade of the Romans, and possesses many points of interest. At No. 18, on the left, lived Goethe; just beyond, on the right, in the short Via S. Giacomo, was Canova's studio. On the right, further down, is the Church of S. Carlo; passing by which, crossing the line of the Via Condotti, on our right opens out the small square of S. Lorenzo, in which is the CHURCH OF S. LORENZO IN LUCINA,containing the grand work of Guido Reni, "The Crucifixion." It is said that, being absorbed in his subject, he crucified his model. The church contains a monument to Poussin, the relief being a copy of his landscape of the tomb of Sappho in Arcadia. Opposite this church is the English Baptist Chapel, under the Rev. James Wall, founded for Romans. Turning to the right, down the Corso, on the left, the Via Convertite leads to THE GENERAL POST OFFICE (La Posta),in the Piazza S. Silvestro, on the left. It is a new building, recently opened, and is fitted up with every modern appliance. The garden in the centre, and the surrounding arcade with its frescoes, present a refreshing appearance, and give a good idea of what the court of a palace should be. Opposite, in the right corner of the square, is THE ENGLISH CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY,being the first Protestant church erected in Rome. It is in the form of a basilica without aisles, and was designed by the late architect Cipolla. Regaining the Corso, we soon arrive at the Piazza Colonna, in which is THE COLUMN OF MARCUS AURELIUS.On the spot where the Palazzo Chigi now stands (on our right) a temple was erected to M. Aurelius, in front of which was placed a splendid pillar, with a spiral frieze winding up the shaft, and representing the chief incidents of the war against the Marcomanni (A.D. 174). COLUMN OF MARCUS AURELIUS. The shaft of this pillar is of precisely the same height as that of the Pillar of Trajan. The pedestal, on the other hand, is much higher, and rises considerably above the level of the modern pavement. The present marble facing of this pedestal has been employed to strengthen the foundations of the monument, which had been much injured. The pillar, after having been frequently struck and much damaged by lightning, was restored, at the command of Sixtus V., by Fontana and his nephew Carlo Maderno. Looking up, we perceive the iron cramps used to keep together the blocks of marble, which had slipped out of their original position. But for this support, this fine monument would long since have sunk beneath the pressure of its own weight. The sculptures are very interesting, but can no more be enjoyed on the spot than those on the Pillar of Trajan. They represent scenes from the battles fought in Germany. The column is formed of 28 blocks of white marble, is 137 feet high, and is crowned with a statue of S. Paul. Sixtus V., in restoring the Column of Marcus Aurelius, in error inscribed it to Antoninus Pius. Facing the Piazza Colonna is a large palace. The columns which form the portico were found in the ruins of Veii. Our attention is next attracted by THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE,situated in the Piazza Monte Citorio, behind the Palace. Orders for admission to special seats may be obtained from any deputy, but there is a compartment in the gallery open to the public. Opposite the Parliament House is an EGYPTIAN OBELISK.It was erected originally at Heliopolis to Psammeticus I., of the twenty-fourth dynasty, more than six centuries B.C. It is 72 feet high. Its first site in Rome was in the Campus Martius, where is now the Piazza dell'Impresa, where it was found and taken to its present site. The Roman pedestal with inscription is in the Church of S. Lorenzo in Lucina. The obelisk was repaired, and its present pedestal formed of fragments of the Antonine Column, which stood near by. The obelisk was brought to Rome by Augustus at the same time as the one in the Piazza del Popolo, and was put up, according to Pliny (xxxvi. 15), as a sun-dial:— "The one that has been erected in the Campus Martius has been applied to a singular purpose by the late Emperor Augustus—that of marking the shadows projected by the sun, and so measuring the length of the days and nights. With this object, a stone pavement was laid, the extreme length of which corresponded exactly with the length of the shadow thrown by the obelisk at the sixth hour on the day of the winter solstice. After this period the shadow would go on day by day gradually decreasing, and then again would as gradually increase, correspondingly with certain lines of brass that were inserted in the stone—a device well deserving to be known, and due to the ingenuity of Facundus Novus, the mathematician. Upon the apex of the obelisk he placed a gilded ball, in order that the shadow of the summit might be condensed and agglomerated, and so prevent the shadow of the apex itself from running to a fine point of enormous extent, the plan being first suggested to him, it is said, by the shadow that is projected by the human head. For nearly the last thirty years, however, the observations derived from this dial have been found not to agree,—whether it is that the sun itself has changed its course, in consequence of some derangement of the heavenly system; or whether that the whole earth has been in some degree displaced from its centre—a thing that, I have heard say, has been remarked in other places as well; or whether that some earthquake, confined to this city only, has wrenched the dial from its original position; or whether it is that, in consequence of the inundations of the Tiber, the foundations of the mass have subsided, in spite of the general assertion that they are sunk as deep into the earth as the obelisk erected upon them is high." Regaining the Corso, the first turning on the right, Via Pietra, leads into the Piazza di Pietra, in which are the ruins of THE TEMPLE OF NEPTUNE.Eleven Corinthian columns, which formed a part of one side of the temple, still stand, forming the entrance into a building once used as a custom-house. They are 42½ feet high and 4½ feet in diameter, supporting an architrave of marble which has been TEMPLE OF NEPTUNE. Continuing our ramble along the Corso, on the right is the Palazzo Simonetti, on the left the Palazzo Sciarra. The pictures here have not been shown to the public for some years. Beyond, standing back, is the Church of S. Marcello, containing the celebrated cherubs of Pierino del Vaga, the most exquisite things ever done in fresco. The tomb of Cardinal Weld is also here. Rienzi's body was hung up by the feet for two days in front of this church. THE CHURCH OF S. MARIA IN VIA LATAwas founded in the eighth century, but was rebuilt in 1485, when the tradition arose that it was on the site of the hired house of S. Paul in Rome. Dodwell, the English explorer in Greece, was buried here. There are also tombs of several members of the Bonaparte family. A door on the left of the portico, built in 1662 from the designs of Pietro da Cortona, leads down into the subterranean chambers, where a well is shown said to have been used by S. Paul to baptize his converts. In an adjoining chamber S. Luke is said to have painted his Madonna. Here are some remains of the materials of the Arch of Claudius, which spanned the Via Flaminia at this point; and an old piece of fresco, said to be by S. Luke. These remains below the church formed part of THE SEPTA.Cicero Ad Atticum (iv. 15) informs us that Julius CÆsar commenced a septa in the Campus Martius for the Comitia Centuriata and Tributa. It consisted of a beautiful building of marble, surrounded with a portico a mile square. It adjoined the Villa Publica. It was completed by Lepidus the triumvir, and dedicated by Agrippa (Dion Cassius, liii. 23). Frontinus (Aq. xxii.) says the arches of the Aqua Virgo ended in the Campus Martius, in front of the Septa. The Comitia Centuriata, when the people assembled in their military order, to elect their highest magistrates, to pass their laws, and to vote upon peace or war, always met outside the walls in the Campus Martius. Comitia Tributa, for less important magistrates, tribunes, and Ædiles, met sometimes in the Campus Martius. The Septa consisted of pens (hence the name), into which the tribes passed to record their votes, which were given by ballot. Every voter received a tabella (tablet), on which he wrote the name of the candidate for whom he voted. He then dropped it into an urn. Near by, Agrippa built the Diribitorium, a large building used for distributing and counting the ballot tickets. It was dedicated by Augustus (Dion Cassius, lv. 8; Pliny, xvi. 40). During a fire Claudius passed two nights here (Suetonius, "Claudius," xviii.). These ruins extend under the Doria Palace, and have nothing to do with any house. There were no houses on the Campus Martius in Paul's time. (See page 197.) Just beyond, on the same side of the way, is THE DORIA PALACE GALLERY (Palazzo Doria),open on Tuesday and Friday from 10 till 2. Catalogues in each room. Fee, half-franc. First Room contains four sarcophagi. A picture of the Deluge, by Scarsellino. Second Room.—4. Caritas Romana, by Valentin. (See page 191.) 24. Madonna and Child, by F. Francia. 28. Annunciation, by Lippi. 33. S. Agnese, by Guercino. Fourth Room.—Bust of Leo X., Doria. Fifth Room.—17. Money-Changers, by Quentin Matsys. 25. S. Joseph, by Guercino. Sixth Room.—13. Madonna, by Carlo Maratta. 30. Sketch of a Boy. Seventh Room.—8. Belisarius in the Desert, by Salvator Rosa. 19. Slaughter of the Innocents, by Mazzolini. First Gallery.—3. Magdalen, by Annibale Caracci. 9. Holy Family, by Sassoferrato. 14. A Titian. 20. Three Ages of Man, by Titian. 25. Flight into Egypt, by Claude Lorraine. 45. Madonna, by Guido Reni. 50. Holy Family, by Giulio Romano. Second Gallery.—6. Madonna, by Francia. 14. Bartolo and Baldo, by Raphael. 24. Calvin, Luther, and Catherine, by Giorgione. 40. Herodias, by Pordenone. 50. Confessor, by Rubens. 53. Joanna of Arragon, School of Leonardo da Vinci. Bust of Andrea Doria. 80. Wife and Self, by Titian. Third Gallery.—5. Landscape, by Claude Lorraine. 12. The Mill, by same, a most extraordinary complication. 18. PietÀ, by Caracci. Cabinet of Gems.—1. Portrait of a Letterato, by Lucas van Leyden. 2. Andrea Doria, by Sebastiano del Piombo. 3. Giannetto Doria, by Bronzino. 4. S. Philip Neri, by Barocci. 5. Innocent X., by Velasquez. 6. Entombment, by John Emelingk. Bust of Lady Mary Talbot. Proceeding down the Corso, we reach the Piazza di Venezia. On the left is the Tolonia Palace, and on the right the Venetian Palace (now the Austrian Embassy), a building of the middle ages. On the right-hand side of the narrow street, in a line with the Corso, Via Morforio, is the TOMB OF ATTIA CLAUDIA,converted into a house, the lower part being shops. By descending into the vault, it will be seen that it is hewn out of the natural rock. The Claudii family "received, from the state, lands beyond the Anio for their followers, and a burying-place for themselves near the Capitol" (Suetonius, "Claudius," i. 1). Adjoining is the house where Giulio Romano was born. A few steps beyond, on the left-hand side of the same street, is the TOMB OF BIBULUS.The inscription records the virtue and public honour of a Roman magistrate of the time of the republic. It is supposed to be two thousand years old. C. PUBLICO . L. Q. F. BIBULO . AED . PL. HONORIS VIRTUTISQUE . CAUSSA . SENATUS CONSULTO . POPULIQUE . IUSSU . LOCUS. MONUMENTO . QUO . IPSE . POSTEREIQUE EIUS . INFERRENTUR . PUBLICE . DATUS . EST. It is of travertine stone and plain Doric architecture. There is some talk of pulling the house down, so that this interesting monument may be better seen. Continuing our ramble down the street, we arrive, on the right, at the Church of S. Giuseppe dei Falegnami. It is built over part of THE MAMERTINE PRISON,erected, according to Livy (i. 33) by Ancus Martius. "In order to suppress the terror, the boldness which the vicious assumed from hence (A.U.C. 121),[1] and which gained ground continually, a prison "There is a place in the prison which is called the Tullianum Dungeon. It is about 12 feet deep in the ground when you have ascended a little to the left.[2] It is secured round the sides by walls, and over it is a vaulted roof, connected with stone arches; but its appearance is disgusting and horrible, by reason of the filth, the obscurity, and the stench. When Lentulus had been let down into this place, certain men, to whom orders had been given, strangled him with a cord." The upper part of the Mamertine Prison was partly rebuilt in the time of Tiberius, as we know from an inscription remaining in the cornice over the flight of steps under the church. C. VIBIUS . C. F. RUFINUS . M. COCCEIUS . NERVA . COS . EX . S. C. Consuls A.D. 23. It seems to have been used exclusively for state prisoners. We have records of the following, amongst others, who were confined here:— Manlius, who had defended the Capitol against the Gauls.—B.C. 382. Quintus Pleminius, a prisoner for sedition.—B.C. 194. Jugurtha, King of Numidia, who was starved to death B.C. 104. He exclaimed, when cast in, "By Hercules! how cold is this bath of yours!" (Plutarch, in "Caius Marius"), evidently speaking of the spring as existing in those days. Catiline conspirators, strangled by order of the Consul Cicero.—B.C. 55. Vercingetorix, King of the Gauls, by order of Julius CÆsar. Sejanus, the minister of Tiberius.—A.D. 31. Simon, the son of Giora, the defender of Jerusalem against Vespasian.—A.D. 69. In the centre of the upper chamber is the round aperture, covered by a grate, down which the prisoners were cast. Juvenal says: "Happy ages of the just, happy centuries, it may be said, those which saw, formerly under the kings, as under the tribunes, Rome content with one prison." One prison may have been enough in those times when it was against the law to confine a Roman citizen before he was tried. We have records of other prisons. Appius Claudius constructed a prison for common offenders near the Forum Olitorium, the scene of "Roman Charity." (See page 190.) Pliny mentions "Stationes Municipiorum"—barracks of the municipal soldiers—near the Forum of Julius CÆsar. These may likewise have been prisons. In addition to these, there was the LautumiÆ. Below the church, the Chapel of the Crucifixion occupies part of the buildings of the prison, and from the sacristy a flight of modern steps leads down into a lower cell, the Chapel of SS. Peter and Paul. The entrance and steps from the street are also modern. In this chamber, to the right of the altar, is a closed-up passage; it evidently communicated with other chambers. On the tufa, carefully guarded by iron bars, an indentation is shown which, they say, was caused by the jailers beating Peter's face against the rock. (He must have had rather a hard head!) Another flight of modern stairs leads down into the Tullianum: the opening down which the prisoners were cast can still be seen. The iron door is the opening of a sewer leading into the Cloaca Maxima, by which means the dead bodies, &c., were taken away. This drain is of the same construction as the Cloaca Maxima, and comes from beyond the other chambers, mentioned below, with which it also communicates. The Roman Catholic tradition is, that SS. Peter and Paul were confined here, and they show the pillar to which they are said to have been chained, though there are no marks of a staple having been fixed in the stone, as represented in the bronze bas-relief; and a fountain which miraculously sprang up when they had converted their keepers, and they wished to be baptized: this was evidently alluded to by Jugurtha. The name Mamertine Prison is medieval. By the ancients it was called the Prison, or the Tullian Prison.[3] The two chambers are only a small part of the ancient prison, which extended up the left side of the Clivus Argentarius, the modern Via Marforio, and evidences of its extent can be seen in the cellars of the houses. It evidently extended up as far as No. 68, for under that wine shop we found two chambers corresponding with the two under the church. The prison was approached from the Forum by a flight of stairs called THE SCALÆ GEMONIÆ,or Stairs of Wailing. Criminals were often put to death on them, and others were exposed there after death. "Those who were put to death were exposed on the ScalÆ GemoniÆ, and then dragged into the Tiber" (Suetonius, "Tiberius," lxi.). At a short distance from the church in the little lane opposite, Via Marmorelle, 29, are some more remains of the Prison, which eventually became the "STATIONES MUNICIPIORUM" AND FORUM OF JULIUS CÆSAR."Julius CÆsar, with money raised from the spoils of war, began to construct a new Forum" (Suetonius, "CÆsar," xxvi.)—the site costing about £807,291. This new Forum was necessary, on account of the old Forum becoming too small for the public business. Pliny (xvi. 86) mentions the barracks of the municipal guards as being between the Vulcanal and the Forum of Julius CÆsar. These remains consist of a series of five large chambers; one is forty feet long and fourteen wide, divided by modern walls and partitions in various ways, and not easy of access. The walls are of tufa. The vaults are of brick, with openings for letting down prisoners. These are of later date than the tufa walls, and one of them is supported by a fine arch of travertine. THE ROMAN FORUM (Il Foro).(The new excavations are open to the public every day without fee. To understand the Roman Forum and its surroundings, visitors should attend the lectures given on the spot by the author of these Rambles, descend with him to its level, and examine each remaining object in detail; thus they may learn something of the buildings and the history that crowded on its space. For particulars, apply at 93 Via Babuino, Rome. Mutilated fragments still speak of the former grandeur of the spot, dead men of its fame, and living authors of its past and present history. In these Rambles we shall only treat of the most important and present remains, which are classed in the order in which they should be visited, and not chronologically. The real foundation of the ancient city has long been covered over by the heaping up, during ages, of earth, stones, rubbish, &c., to the depth of thirty feet. The thick crust had lain untouched by shovel during the long series of popes; especially was this, until recently, the In short, the Forum is dressed up in quite a new attire, and many old visitors would scarcely recognize it in its modern garb. Crowds of spectators lean against the barriers every day, anxiously reviewing the carting of the earth, and awaiting for artistic valuables to "turn up." The picturesqueness of the crowds, of the costumes and scenery, the variety of language and nationality, the past associations, all go to make up a spectacle quite unique. We will follow the modern road, which crosses the Forum, and turning to the left, proceed along the side of the Basilica Julia to the Temple of Castor and Pollux, where a flight of steps gives access to the Forum. Standing upon the platform of the temple, we propose to explain the various buildings that surrounded the Forum, and then to descend to its ancient level to examine the chief points of interest. The word forum, in its simple signification, means market-place; and the Roman Forum was the market-place when Rome consisted of but two hills, the Palatine and Capitoline. It soon lost its primitive use, and became the centre of the religious, civil, and political life of the Romans. Then other market-places were formed, and called after the principal commodity sold therein. In the time of CÆsar the Forum was found too small, and then was commenced the first of the Imperial Fora. The Forum, from the time of Constantine, gradually fell into decay, and was finally ruined in the year 1084, when Robert Guiscard, the Norman chief, burned all Rome from the Lateran to the Capitol. HOW THE SOIL ACCUMULATED.We may learn from the erection of the Column of Phocas, in A.D. 608, that the Forum was then unencumbered with soil. Rome having been at that time deserted for a long period by its emperors, its principal monuments began to fall into decay, the Romans themselves hastening on the work for the sake of the marble; the steady hand of time, allied with the luxuriant vegetation, working slowly but surely, added to the dÉbris; whilst deposits from the Tiber floods, the wind, and the wash of the rain-shed, helped still more to fill in the valleys. During a long course of years Rome was almost abandoned; the streets remained unswept, and the rubbish of the city collected upon them. At length a new life sprang up, and to the PLAN OF THE ROMAN FORUM. EXTENT OF THE FORUM.The Forum was not, as many have supposed, a building, but an open space surrounded with buildings, the whole forming the Forum. It was 260 yards long, and 55 yards wide at the bottom. The top, under the Capitol, was 140 yards wide. The temples were built on lofty platforms (podia), to give them a more commanding appearance. THE ROMAN FORUM, LOOKING TOWARDS THE CAPITOLINE HILL.
View larger image. TEMPLE OF CASTOR AND POLLUX.Founded by Aulus Posthumius, A.U.C. 268–74, in commemoration of the battle of Lake Regillus. It was afterwards rebuilt by Lucius Metellus. "Tiberius dedicated the Temple of Castor and Pollux, which had been rebuilt out of the spoils of the German war, in his own and his brother's name" (Suetonius, "Tiberius," xx.). "Caligula converted it into a kind of vestibule to his house" (Ibid., "Caligula," xxii.). The three magnificent pillars still standing belonged to the side facing the Palatine. They indicate approximately the south-east boundary of the Forum. The narrower front looked down from a terrace of considerable elevation upon the Forum, and was connected with it by means of a double flight of stairs, the remains of which were discovered during excavations made some time ago. These pillars, as well as the fragments of the architrave and cornice supported by them, are among the most beautiful architectural remains of ancient Rome. The ornaments of the capitals and of the entablature are as rich and splendid as they are pure and simple. It is therefore probable that they belong to the time of Tiberius. Pliny (x. 60) tells us of "a raven that was hatched upon the roof of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, and flew into a bootmaker's shop opposite. Every morning it used to fly to the Rostra which looked towards the Forum (the Rostra Julia), where he would salute the Emperor Tiberius, Germanicus, Drusus, and others, as they passed; after which he returned to the shop. This the bird did for several years, till the owner of an opposition shop, through jealousy, killed him, for which the man was put to death; and such a favourite had the bird become that he had a public funeral, and was buried in the The Church of S. Maria Liberatrice, on our right, occupies the site of THE REGIA NUMÆ."Numa erected a palace near the Temple of Vesta, called to this day Regia" (Plutarch, "Numa"). Horace (O. i. 2) says: "We see the tawny Tiber, its waves violently forced back from the Tuscan shore, proceed to demolish the monumental Regia (NumÆ) and the Temple of Vesta." It was the residence of the Pontifex Maximus, or chief priest, down to the time of Augustus. "Augustus presented the Regia to the Vestal Virgins, because it adjoined their residence" (Dion Cassius, lxv. 27). In the sixteenth century twelve inscriptions relative to the Virgins were found near the church. Opposite the church, on the level of the Forum, is the round podium of THE TEMPLE OF VESTA."Numa erected the Temple of Vesta (A.U.C. 37) between the Capitoline and Palatine Hills; the Forum in which this temple was built lying between them" (Dionysius, ii. 66). "It was made round, as a symbol of the earth" (Ovid, "Fasti," vi. 265). "The roof was covered with bronze of Syracuse" (Pliny, xxxiv. 7). It was destroyed by fire under Nero and Commodus, and rebuilt by Vespasian and Septimius Severus. It was the conservatory of the Palladium and holy fire. The number of Virgins was originally four, afterwards increased to six. They were bound to their ministry for thirty years. If they broke their vow they were buried alive: they took their vows for thirty years. "Ten years they were being instructed in their duties, ten years they practised them, and ten years they passed in instructing others" (Plutarch). On the opposite corner of the Forum ten columns and the side walls remain of THE TEMPLE OF ANTONINUS AND FAUSTINA.Erected by Antoninus Pius, A.D. 160; and dedicated by the Senate on his death to himself and wife, who were deified, as we learn from the inscription,— DIVO . ANTONINO . ET . DIVAE . FAUSTINAE . EX . S. C. The vestibule of this edifice, composed of ten Corinthian pillars of variegated green marble (cipollino) supporting an architrave and The portico was excavated in 1876: the ascent to the Temple from the Via Sacra was found to be by a flight of twenty-one steps, fifteen feet in height. The portico now fulfils the same office to the Church of S. Lorenzo in Miranda, which we understand is to be pulled down. Between this temple and our vantage point a mass of rubble work marks the site of THE TEMPLE-TOMB OF JULIUS CÆSAR.Ovid ("Met." xv., "Let." ii. 2), describes it as "close to Castor and Pollux, having its aspect towards the Forum and the Capitol." "They [the Triumvirs] likewise built a tomb to Julius CÆsar in the middle of the Forum, with an asylum, that should be for ever inviolable" (Dion Cassius, "Aug."). Before the temple was built, "a column of Numidian marble, formed of one stone twenty feet high, was erected to CÆsar in the Forum, inscribed—TO THE FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY" (Suetonius, "CÆsar," lxxxv.). This gave place to the temple, which had four columns in front, as we learn from a relief and a coin. It was decorated with the statues of the Julian line. "About the time of the death of Nero, the Temple of CÆsar being struck with lightning, the heads of all the statues in it fell off at once; and Augustus's sceptre was dashed from his hand" (Suetonius, "Galba"). We must now call attention to the buildings between the Temple of Antoninus and the Church of S. Adriano on the line of the houses shortly to be pulled down; but till the excavations are made, we cannot be certain of the details. Next to the temple stood THE BASILICA ÆMILIA.In B.C. 180, "Marcus Fulvius made contracts for a court of justice behind the new bankers' shops" (Livy, xl. 51). It was destroyed by fire, and rebuilt by Paullus Æmilius, B.C. 53. Plutarch says that Paullus expended on it the large sum of money he had received from CÆsar as a bribe. Pliny (xxxvi. 24) tells us it was celebrated for its columns of Phrygian marble. For explanation of the word Basilica, see page 82. Between this and the Church of S. Adriano stood THE BASILICA PORCIA.In B.C. 185, "Cato purchased for the use of the people the two houses, MÆnius and Titius, in the LautumiÆ, and four shops, erecting on that ground a court of justice, which was called the Porcian" (Livy, xxxix. 44). "The tribunes likewise opposed him very much in his building, at the public charge, a hall below the Senate House, by the Forum, which he finished notwithstanding, and called it the Porcian Basilica" (Plutarch, in "Cato"). This is where the tribunes of the people used to hold their courts. It was destroyed by fire at the same time as the Curia. Behind was THE FORUM PISCATORIUM,or Fish-Market. Plautus ("Capteivei," Act iv., Scene 2) says "that the stench of the fish frequently drove the frequenters of the Basilica Porcia into the Forum Romanum." The Market was destroyed by fire B.C. 212 (Livy, xxvi. 27), and rebuilt B.C. 180 (Livy, xl. 51). "Marcus Fulvius contracted for the rebuilding of the Fish-Market." In this district was also THE LAUTUMIÆ.It was not only a district near the Forum, but a prison, as the name signifies, made out of stone quarries. It is first mentioned (B.C. 212) by Livy (xxvi. 27) in his account of the fire. Livy (xxxii. 26; xxxvii. 3) says it was a place for the custody of hostages and prisoners of war. When Q. M. Celer the consul was imprisoned there by the tribune L. Flavius, Celer attempted to assemble the Senate in it (Dion Cassius, xxxvii. 50); so we may infer that it was a large building. The LautumiÆ was entirely distinct from the Mamertine Prison. The church with the plain front, S. Adriano, and the house with the green shutters, occupy the site of THE SENATE HOUSE,originally built by Tullus Hostilius one hundred years after the foundation of Rome, and called the Curia Hostilia. "He built a Senate House, which retained the name Hostilia even within the memory of our fathers" (Livy, i. 30). THE ROMAN FORUM, FROM THE CAPITOL.
View larger image. It was destroyed by fire when the body of the tribune Clodius was burned, A.U.C. 702. Rebuilt by Faustus, the son of Sylla. Destroyed a second time, to do away with the name of Sylla, on pretence of erecting the Temple of Felicity; rebuilt by Julius CÆsar, A.U.C. 711, completed by the Triumvirs, and consecrated by Augustus, who named it the Curia Julia. Again destroyed by fire under Titus, and rebuilt by Domitian, and called Senatus. It was approached by a flight of steps; for "Tarquin carried old Servius out of the Curia, and threw him down the steps to the bottom" (Livy, i. 48). This was the proper Senate House; and when we read of the senators meeting in other places, there was always some special reason for their so doing. The tradition of the church, S. Adriano, is, that it was erected out of the remains of the Senate House, the bronze doors of which were carried off to the Lateran by Alexander VII., where they still remain. An anonymous writer, quoted by Eckhard, states that in A.D. 283, under Carinus, a fire destroyed the Curia Julia, the GrÆcostasis, the Basilica Julia, and the Forum of CÆsar, all of which were restored by Diocletian, 290. The Senate House seems to have been again destroyed, and rebuilt by Flavianus, prefect of the city, in 399, under the title of "Secretarium Senatus;" another prefect, Eucharius, restored it in 407. The Church of S. Martino occupies the site of THE GRÆCOSTASIS AND SENACULUM.Varro ("Ling. Lat.," v. 155) says: "The GrÆcostasis was on the right of the Curia, and projected in front of it; and here the Senate received the foreign ambassadors in audience. The Senaculum lay above the GrÆcostasis, and towards the Temple of Concord, and the senators deliberated in this building with the magistrates who were not entitled to enter the Senate House." Between S. Martino and S. Adriano the Via Bonella runs out of the Forum on the line of THE ARGILETUM,which passed through the Fora of CÆsar and Augustus to the Suburra. It was the Paternoster Row of ancient Rome. "Thou preferrest, little book, to dwell in the shops in the Argiletum" (Martial, i. 3). At its entrance stood THE BRONZE SHRINE OF JANUS.In A.U.C. 39, "Numa built a shrine to Janus, near the foot of the hill Argiletum, which was to notify a state either of war or peace" (Livy, i. 19). Ovid ("Fasti," i. 259) says, "Thou hast a shrine adjoining two Fora" (the Forum of CÆsar and the Roman Forum). "There was a Janus in the Forum before the Curia. This temple was made entirely of bronze, and of a square form; it was hardly large enough to hold the figure of Janus. The bronze image was four cubits high; in other respects like a man, except that it had two faces, one looking towards the east and the other towards the west. There were bronze doors in each front" (Procopius, "Bel. Got." i. 25). A brick podium under the right end column of the Arch of Severus marks its site. Somewhat in the foreground is THE ARCH OF SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS,erected, A.D. 205, in honour of the emperor and his two sons, Caracalla and Geta, by the senate and people of Rome.[4] The sculptures adorning it are interesting, and represent his victories over the Parthians, Arabians, and Adiabenes. A chariot, containing the statues of the emperor and his sons, drawn by six horses (now in S. Mark's, Venice), stood on the summit. The sculptures represent details of the Roman military harangues, sieges, camps, assaults with battering-rams, and the submission of prisoners. The front towards the Forum represents the emperor addressing his troops, the taking of Carrha, the siege of Nisibis. The front facing the Capitol represents another harangue, the siege of Atra, and the passage of the Euphrates and Tigris. In front of the arch are the bases of THE DUILIAN COLUMN,DUILIAN COLUMN. erected A.U.C. 493. "Caius Duilius was the first to gain a naval triumph THE MÆNIA COLUMN"was erected in honour of C. MÆnius, who conquered the ancient Latins, A.U.C. 416, and to whom the Romans gave a third of the spoil" (Pliny, xxxiv. 11). Immediately behind the Arch of Severus are the remains of OPIMIUS'S TEMPLE OF CONCORD.Here was originally a shrine erected by Flavius. Livy (ix. 46) says, "In A.U.C. 449, to the great displeasure of the nobles, Caius Flavius performed the dedication of the Temple of Concord, in the area of Vulcan." Pliny (xxxiii. 6) gives us further particulars, and points out the exact site:—"Flavius made a vow that he would consecrate a temple to Concord, if he should succeed in reconciling the privileged orders with the plebeians; and as no part of the public funds could be voted for the purpose, he accordingly built a small shrine of bronze near the GrÆcostasis, then situated above the Comitium, with the fines which had been exacted for usury. "Here, too, he had an inscription engraved upon a tablet of brass, to the effect that the shrine was dedicated 203 years after the consecration of the Capitoline Jupiter." The third temple, Livy (xxii. 33) says, "was erected in the Citadel, A.U.C. 538, the Temple of Concord vowed by the PrÆtor Lucius Manlius, on occasion of the mutiny of some soldiers in Gaul, A.U.C. 536." The fourth temple was dedicated to Concord by the Consul Lucius Opimius, after the death of Gracchus, A.U.C. 632. Appianus (i. 26) says "it was in the Forum." Varro ("L.L." v.) says, "The Senaculum was above the GrÆcostasis, towards the Temple of Concord and Basilica Opimia." Festus says it was "between the Capitoline Hill and the Forum." The Senaculum was distinct from the Curia. Thus Livy (li. 27) says, "The censors constructed a portico from the Temple of Saturn on the Capitol to the Senaculum, which was above the Curia." The inscription has been preserved to us:— S. P. Q. R. AEDEM CONCORDIAE VETVSTATE COLLAPSAM IN MELIOREM FACEM OPERE ET CVLTV SPLENDIDIORE RESTITVERVNT. THE BASILICA OPIMIA.At the back of the ruins of the temple are the remains of the Basilica Opimia. Part of the ground-plan is shown on a fragment of the marble map of Rome, with a fragment of a basilica behind. On examination of the ruins, the two buildings can be distinctly made out. In front are the ruins of the steps and portico, with the cella behind. There seems to have been at the back of the cella an entrance into the basilica, both being closed with independent doors. The marble threshold of the temple is in situ, and upon it is cut a caduceus, the emblem of Concord, which was once filled in with bronze; parallel to this, but distinct, is the marble threshold of the basilica, with the holes where the pivots of the doors turned. Under the podium of the basilica is a long narrow vault of opus incertum, but it does not lead into the Tabularium, that being built long afterwards, A.U.C. 675, as the old inscription records, B.C. 78. It was probably the place where the utensils for the temple were deposited. Some of the marble decorations of the basilica still remain; and this was no doubt the hall used when the Senate are spoken of as having sat in the Temple of Concord. "The Senate assembled in the building near the Temple of Concord" (Dion Cassius, lviii. 2). "In this temple, in which, whilst I was advising the Senate, you placed around it armed men" (Cicero, "2 Phil." vii. and viii.). "Here, in this Cella of Concord, on the slope of the Capitol." It may be that this is the basilica spoken of in later times as the Basilica Argentaria, probably taking that name from being frequented by the silversmiths. It was restored, after a fire, by Septimius Severus, and the inscription quoted is probably of his date. In A.D. 731–741, Pope Gregory III. turned the remains into a Christian church, which exists no longer. In 1817, three inscriptions were found here, referring to the temple and basilica. Cicero ("Per Sest." lxvii.) tell us "that the monuments of L. Opimius in the Forum were very much frequented." A Temple of Concord seems to have been decorated with many statues, but there is nothing to show whether it was that of Camillus on the Capitol, or Opimius's. "Piston also made the statues of Mars and Mercury, which are in the Temple of Concord at Rome." "Sthenius made the statues of Ceres, Jupiter, and Minerva, which are now in the Temple of Concord." "Augustus consecrated in the Temple of Concord, as something marvellous, four figures of elephants made of obsidian stone." "Also, a picture of Marsyas bound by Leuxis" (Pliny, xxxiv. 19, xxxv. 36, xxxvi. 67). "Vitellius left the palace to lay down the ensigns of sovereignty in the Temple of Concord" (Tacitus, "H." iii. 68). To the left is THE TEMPLE OF VESPASIAN.Vespasian having rendered such services by restoring the Capitol, and collecting the records in the Tabularium, no more suitable site could be found for the erection of a temple to the deified emperor than in front of an old entrance to this latter building. The three pillars, which are all that remain of the building, stand upon a lofty terrace; and the skill of the architect in concealing the limited depth of the space allotted to the temple is shown in his having placed the columns of the flank nearer to each other than those of the front. The beauty of this ruin excites universal admiration. It approaches that of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Forum. The inscription on the architrave, copied, whilst still entire, by a monk of the monastery of Einsiedeln, in the eighth century, refers to the restoration of the building by Septimius Severus and Caracalla, who appear to have also restored other sanctuaries in the same neighbourhood. DIVO. VESPASIANO. S. P. Q. R. IMP. CAES. SEVERUS. Looking across the front of this temple is THE TEMPLE OF SATURN."The temple was consecrated to Saturn, upon the ascent leading from the Forum to the Capitol. Before this, the altar erected by the followers of Hercules stood there" (Dionysius, vi. 1. See ibid., i. 34). Only eight Ionic columns, with their capitals and architraves, remain. It was on the steps of this temple that the generals took the oath that they had given a correct account of their spoil and prisoners. It contained the public treasury, and, according to Solinus, was called the Treasury of Saturn. Livy (ii. 21) says, "In the consulate of Aulus Sempronius and Marcus Minucius, A.U.C. 257, the Temple of Saturn was dedicated." Plutarch says, "Publicola appointed the Temple of Saturn to be the treasury, which they still make use of for that purpose, and empowered the people to choose two young men as quÆstors or treasurers." The inscription is still in situ. SENATUS . POPULUSQUE . ROMANUS . INCENDIO . TEMPLE OF VESPASIAN, TABULARIUM, AND PORTICO OF THE TWELVE GODS. THE MILLIARIUM AUREUM,or Golden Milestone, set up by Augustus (Dion Cassius, liv. 5), the site of which is at the angle of the temple on the side of the old Clivus Capitolinus, the ancient road leading up from the Forum. It was a gilded stone, on which the distance of all the principal towns was recorded, the distance being always measured from the city gates. Suetonius ("Otho," vi.) tells that "Otho gave his accomplices notice to wait for him in the Forum near the Temple of Saturn, at the Golden Milestone." Tacitus ("H." i. 27) relates the same; and Plutarch (in "Galba") agrees with them both, adding, "There terminate all the great roads in Italy." Behind the Temple of Saturn, in the corner, is THE PORTICO OF THE TWELVE GODS,the Schola Xantha, and the portico of the Dii Consentes, restored by Visconti in 1858, marked by eight Corinthian columns, partly modern, but with antique capitals and architraves; and the cellÆ arranged in compact masonry behind them. It was called the Schola Xantha, from Fabius Xanthus, a curator of the monuments, who placed here the images of the household gods of Rome—Dii Consentes, because admitted to the council of Jove—Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Mercurius, Jovi', Neptunus, Vulcanus, Apollo (Ennius). The inscription tells us they were reinstated under Vettius Pretextatus, A.D. 367. Facing towards the Forum, at the back of the line of buildings at its top, is THE TABULARIUM.(See page 170.) In front of the Senate House, S. Adriano, is THE COLUMN OF PHOCAS,which formerly supported the statue of that emperor. It faced the Senate House; and is placed upon a pedestal rising from a pyramidal basement of steps, the whole evidently the plunder of other edifices. It was erected by Smaragdus, the Exarch of Italy, in A.D. 608, and was excavated by the Countess of Devonshire in 1816. It is thus mentioned by Byron,— "Tully was not so eloquent as thou, Thou nameless column with the buried base!" Childe Harold, iv. 90. Between the Temples of Saturn and Castor are the remains of THE BASILICA JULIA,on the site of the Basilica Sempronia, erected by Sempronius Gracchus, B.C. 169 (Livy, xliv. 16). This was burned down, and rebuilt by Julius CÆsar, and called Julia, after his daughter. It was destroyed by fire, and rebuilt by Augustus (Dion Cassius, "Augustus"). It was again destroyed by fire, and rebuilt A.D. 283. Suetonius tells us that Caligula, "during three days successively, scattered money to a prodigious amount among the people, from the top of the Julian Basilica" ("Caligula," xxxvii.). It is shown on two pieces of the marble plan. In the "Mon. Ancyr.," Augustus says, "He rebuilt the Basilica Julia between the Temples of Castor and Saturn." Thus we see that the Will of Augustus, the marble plan, and the ruins, all three exactly agree. The portico was dedicated to his grandsons, Lucius and Caius (Suetonius, "Augustus," xxix.). It was the great court of appeal. (See Pliny, Jr., "Letters," v. 21, vi. 33.) The old pavement has been well exposed, and put in proper condition for preservation; the remnants of frieze, and cornices, and columns found in the diggings have been set up on brick pedestals,—an innovation of Signor Rossa's. The old bits of pavement have been very smoothly linked together by the laying of Venetian mosaic cement, and the contrast between the modern and the antique is very apparent. The principal streets that ran into the Forum were:— THE VIA SACRA.It commenced on the Palatine Hill at the Ædem Larium. Passing by the Arch of Titus, it turned to the left: thus far it was called the Clivus Palatinus and Summa Sacra Via; the slope down to the Forum was called the Clivus Sacer. It entered the Forum at the Temple of Antoninus, past which it turned again to the left, passing in front of the Temple of CÆsar; then turning to the right, passed through the centre of the Forum to the foot of the Capitol. The ascent here was called the Clivus Capitolinus. It was paved B.C. 174 (Livy, xli. 27). Its windings are easily accounted for when we remember that it had to come from the top of the Palatine to the top of the Capitoline, passing through a narrow valley. It was called the Sacred Way from the sacred processions that passed along it, and from the sacred buildings that lined it. Between the Basilica Julia and the Temple of Castor THE VICUS TUSCUSran to the forum of the cattle-dealers and Circus Maximus. "They had ground allotted to them for building houses, which was afterwards called the Vicus Tuscus" (Livy, ii. 14). "Verres had caused it to be paved so badly, that he made a point of never going along the street that he had taken the contract for paving" (Cicero, "Ver." i. 59). It was the route for the festal processions to the Circus and Aventine. Where it entered the Forum was a statue of the Tuscan god Vertumnus, the base of which statue was found near where the street first touched the Basilica Julia. This street was sometimes called the Vicus Thurarius, from the perfumers' shops. THE VICUS JUGARIUSwent out of the Via Sacra between the Temple of Saturn and the Basilica Julia, running under the Capitol to the Porta Carmentalis, the gate in the wall from the Capitol to the river that led into the forum of the vegetable-dealers. Where it left the Via Sacra it was spanned by the Arch of Tiberius, erected A.D. 16 in commemoration of the lost eagles of Varus being recovered by Germanicus (Tacitus, "Annals," ii. 41). In this street was the Lacus Servilius. Under our (right) side of the Temple of Castor are some remains of THE STREET OF THE OX-HEADS.From the Porta Romana on the Palatine, a short street went to the right out of the Via Nova into the Forum, ending between the Temples of Castor and Vesta. "It chanced that I was returning from the festival of Vesta by that way by which the Nova Via is now joined to the Roman Forum" (Ovid, "Fasti," vi. 389.) We wish Mr. Naso had been a little more explicit, and had given us the name of this short street; but we will endeavour to demonstrate what the name of this street was. We know from Suetonius that under the Palatine was the temple to the deified Augustus, and over it Caligula built his bridge, connecting the Palatine with the Capitol. Now, at the corner of the Palatine we have the ascent to this bridge remaining, so that it will not be difficult to find the probable site of the Temple of Augustus. Horace (O. iii. 3) implies that it was between the Temples of Castor and Hercules. Servius says it was near the Tuscan colony. Suetonius tells us it was on the site of the house in which he was born, and gives us the name of the street: "In the quarter of the Palatine Hill, and the street called the Ox-heads, where now MINOR STREETS.We must call attention to a cross street that ran from the Clivus Capitolinus to the Prison and the Clivus Argentarius, the name of which we cannot determine, unless it was reckoned part of the Argentarius. When the triumphal processions arrived at this point, the general and prisoners separated. He went up the Capitol to sacrifice, they to the Prison to death. The road passing under the Arch of Severus is of very late date, and artificially formed. It ran from the cross street down the north side of the Forum for a short distance, when it turns to the left, apparently passing out of the Forum between the Curia and the Basilica Porcia. The roads, as a rule, did not pass under the triumphal arches, as they are represented on reliefs and coins, with the archways occupied with statues. The open paved space, which was very much larger in the time of the Republic, was called THE COMITIUM.Varro says it was so called "from coÏre, to meet,—the place of the ratification of the treaty between the Romans and Sabines." Livy tells us "it was an open space marked out in the Forum, where the assemblies called Comitia Curiata took place for the purpose of electing ministers of religious rites, making laws of a certain description, and deciding some suits, and inflicting punishment on criminals." Domitian ordered the gallants of Cornelia, the president of the Vestal Virgins, to be whipped to death with rods in the Comitium. A line of seven brick bases for honorary statues occupies one side; the edge of the paved area marks the top; the remains of a row of shops, destroyed by Signor Rossa in 1872, the bottom. The line of the modern road on the right was called THE JANUS.This was the Roman Exchange, where the money-changers transacted their business, and must not be confounded with the Temple of Janus already mentioned; nor must it be thought that there were a series of arches here, as some authors have supposed. Horace says SHRINE OF VENUS.Having thus pointed out the principal buildings of the Forum, we will descend to its level, and identify some of its historical sites. At the left-hand corner of the Vicus Tuscus and the Via Sacra, a brick pedestal marks the site of the Shrine of Venus Cloacina, erected in commemoration of Tarquin making the Cloaca Maxima. Cloacina comes from cluere = purgare, to purge. THE DEATH OF VIRGINIA.DEATH OF VIRGINIA. Opposite this shrine, facing up the Vicus Tuscus, is some brickwork—remains of a line of shops that faced towards the Temple of CÆsar, and which were destroyed by Signor Rossa in making the "Virginius demanded to speak with Virginia; and permission being granted, he drew the maiden and her nurse aside to the shops near the shrine of Cloacina, now called the new shops, and there, snatching a knife from a butcher's stall, plunged it into his daughter's breast" (Livy, iii. 48). THE FOUNTAIN OF JUTURNA.At the left-hand corner, facing the Temple of Castor, the oval basin of this fountain has been cleared, and the spring which supplied it is covered with an iron grating, and has been turned into the Cloaca. It is no doubt the same at which the twin-gods, Castor and Pollux, washed their horses after fighting for Rome in the battle of Lake Regillus, when they announced to the people that the battle was won. Similar stories are told by Florus. When the Romans conquered Perses, king of Macedonia, the twin-gods washed themselves at the Lake of Juturna; and when they defeated the Tigurini, the gods were seen to deliver a letter to the prÆtor in front of their temple. Juturna was the sister of Turnus, immortalized by Jupiter, and turned into a fountain, whose waters were used in Vesta's sacrifices, and had curative powers. THE FORNIX FABIUSstood between the Temples of CÆsar and Castor; some slight remains can still be seen. It was erected to Fabius Maximus, the conqueror of the Allobroges, now Savoy. It was erected B.C. 121, being the first triumphal arch in the Forum. The Romans originally called their triumphal arch fornix, not arcus. The pseudo-Ascon says it stood before the Temple of Castor. The inscription was found in the sixteenth century, and is given by Gruter, ccccvi. 5— Q . FABIO . ALLOBROGICINO Another fragment is given in the Vatican Codex, 3368, 4— Q . FABIUS . Q . F . MAXIMUS . AED . CVR . REST. Cicero is the first author who speaks of this arch, and he alludes to it several times. In "Verres" (i. 7) he says: "He (Caius Curio) sees Verres in the crowd by the Fornix Fabius. He speaks to the man, and with a loud voice congratulates him on his victory." Asconius, commenting on this passage, says: "Fornix Fabius arcus est juxta Regiam in Sacra Via a Fabio censore constructus, qui a devictis Allobrogibus Allobrox cognominatus est, ibique statua ejus posita propterea est." In "Pro Plancio" (vii.) Cicero says: "When I am hustled in a crowd, and pushed against the Arch of Fabius, I do not complain to the man who is at the top of the Sacra Via, but to him who pushes me." Again ("De Orat." ii. 66) he says: "Crassus said in a speech to the people that Memnius, though himself so great a man, as he came into the Forum, stooped his head at the Arch of Fabius." Seneca ("De Constantia Sapientis," i.) says: "Cato was dragged from the (old) Rostra to the Arch of Fabius"—that is, nearly the whole length of the Forum. Trebellius Pollio ("Saloninus Gallienus," i. 10) says: "There was at this time at the foot of the hill Romulus (Palatine) a statue, that is before the Sacred Way, between the Temples of Faustina and Vesta, near to the Arch of Fabius." This exactly describes the site. We have two views of this arch preserved to us on ancient reliefs. The first, from the Arch of Marcus Aurelius, now on the stairway of the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Capitol, represents the arch on the left of the Temple-Tomb of the deified CÆsar. The second, a relief on the monument of Marcus Aurelius on the Comitium, nearest the Arch of Septimius Severus, depicts the Arch of Fabius to the right of the Temple of Castor and Pollux. Under the bank of earth to the right of CÆsar's Temple-Tomb stood THE ARCH OF AUGUSTUS.Dion Cassius records (liv. 8) that Augustus built an arch in commemoration of the Parthian treaty near the Temple-Tomb of CÆsar. This is borne out by Maii, an interpreter of Virgil ("Æn." viii. 606), who says the Arch of Augustus was near to the temple of the deified Julius. The "Mirabilia" mentions it, and gives the same site: "Templum MinervÆ cum arcu conjunctum est ei, nunc autem vocatur Sanctus Laurentius de Mirandi;" that is, the Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina, now the Church of San Lorenzo in Miranda. Accordingly, it was on the right of the Temple of CÆsar. Between it and the Temple of Antoninus the following inscription on marble was found in 1540–46:— SENATVS . POPVLVSQVE . ROMANVS It is doubtful whether this refers to the Arch of Augustus or to the Temple of CÆsar, both having been built by Augustus. A coin of THE ROSTRA JULIA.We know from Dion Cassius that CÆsar encouraged the popular business to be carried on at the lower end of the Forum, and that he turned the steps of the Temple of Castor into a temporary rostra. On this becoming popular he built a new rostra, which was called the plebeian rostra or Rostra Julia. We learn from Suetonius that it was before the Temple of CÆsar. Cicero, speaking from it against Mark Antony, bids his audience look to the (their) left at the gilt equestrian statue of Antony which stood before the Temple of Castor. This is one of the most interesting spots in the Forum. CÆsar built the second rostra with its rear towards the Forum, represented by the darker lines in the above plan. In front, towards the curved edge, Antony spoke, CÆsar's body being on the level below. The body was burnt and buried "in the Forum in that place visible from the old monumental Regia of the Romans. On the spot was placed an altar where now is the Temple of CÆsar" (Appian, ii. 42). "The same men were erecting a tomb in the Forum who had performed that irregular funeral" (Cicero, "First Phil." ii.). It was decorated with the rams of the captured ships of Antony and Cleopatra. It was the custom to speak from the circular edge; but when the Temple of CÆsar was built, it was erected close up to his rostra, on the site where the people had previously stood, and so they had to turn about and address the people from the flat edge. "As he was seated on the rostra at the festival of Pan, Mark Antony placed upon his brow a royal diadem" (Velleius Paterculus, ii. 56). MARK ANTONY'S SPEECH.When CÆsar was killed, it was not in the Capitol, as Shakespeare makes it, nor in the Senate House upon the Forum, but in Pompey's Senate House (see page 195). From there the body was carried to his house, and next day into the Forum, on its way to the Campus Martius, and was placed in front of the Rostra Julia for some friend to make the funeral oration over it. Mark Antony mounted the rostra, and there made his famous speech, "which moved the people to that degree that they immediately burned the body in that very place, and afterwards interred his ashes" (Dion Cassius, "CÆsar"). Livy ("Epit." xcvi.) says that "CÆsar's body was burned before the plebeian rostra." Dion Cassius says his temple-tomb was built on the very spot where his body was burned. Unfortunately Antony's address has not come down to us, so we must accept Shakespeare's immortal version. THE CURTIAN LAKE.Crossing the Sacred Way, which passes along the front of CÆsar's Tomb, we arrive at the space occupied by the shops destroyed in excavating. The construction remaining shows that they were rebuilt at a late date. It will be noticed that the soil is damp and sandy. This spot was once marshy, and took its name from Mettius Curtius, a leader of the Sabines, getting mired here in the battle which took place about the carrying off of the women. Plutarch, Livy, Dionysius, and Ovid agree in this; and not from the fable related by Livy (vii. 16) of the Forum opening, and Marcus Curtius jumping in, horse, armour, and all. The former event is commemorated in a relief in stone now in the Capitol; whilst the latter fable is depicted in the marble relief now in the Borghese Museum. THE PEDESTAL OF THE STATUE OF DOMITIAN.The Statue was destroyed by the people after his death, and the base of the pedestal is all we have left, standing upon the travertine pavement MARCUS CURTIUS LEAPING INTO THE GULF. Suetonius tells us that the tablet inscribed upon the base of Domitian's triumphal statue was carried away by the violence of a storm, and fell upon a neighbouring monument. A little beyond this pedestal, to the right, are the remains of another pedestal, a deep round hole recently closed, and beyond it a third pedestal. Upon the first we will place THE STATUE OF MARSYAS.Servius informs us that this statue was put up in the principal forum of every city as an emblem of civic liberty and even-handed Over the round hole stood THE PUTEAL SCRIBONIUS LIBO,or well altar. This is shown on a coin as being round. "At a small distance from the statue of Attus, both the hone and the razor are said to be buried under a certain altar; the place is called Puteus by the Romans" (Dionysius, iii. 72). Cicero ("De Div." i. 17) says, "It was on the Comitium, and was erected over the spot where the hone and razor were buried." (See also Horace, Ep. i. 19.) Upon the other base we will place THE STATUE OF ATTUS NAVIUS."Tarquin erected a brazen statue of him in the Forum to eternalize his memory with posterity. This statue is still remaining, and stands before the Senate House, near to the holy fig-tree. It is less than a middle-sized man, and has a veil over the head" (Dionysius, iii. 72). "The statue of Attus Navius was erected before the Senate House, the pedestal of which was consumed when the Senate House itself was burned at the funeral of Publius Clodius" (Pliny, xxxiv. 11). "There was a statue of Attus, with a fillet on his head, in the place where Tarquin had the whetstone cut in two with a razor, on the Comitium, or place of assembly, just by the steps, at the left-hand side of the Senate House" (Livy, i. 36). THE FICUS NAVIAwas a fig-tree that, according to Festus, was planted by Tarquin in commemoration of his having had the whetstone cut in two with a razor, according to the augury of Attus Navius. It should not be confounded with the Ruminal fig-tree which grew upon the Palatine, as has been done by some writers. It is rather a curious incident that since the excavations were made, a fig-tree sprang up near the pedestal of Marsyas. This is the tree shown on the reliefs of the monument of Marcus Aurelius. Just beyond these three objects, a semicircular mark on the pavement points to the site of THE ROSTRA.The original Rostra was first called the Suggestum or Pulpit, but in A.U.C. 416 the name was changed into Rostra (beaks). "The prows from the six ships captured from the Antiates were ordered to be placed as decorations on the Suggestum in the Forum, which was hence called Rostra" (Livy, viii. 14; Florus, i. 11; Pliny, xxiv. 11). "The Rostra stood on the Comitium in front of the Curia" (Varro), from which the orators harangued the people assembled in the open air; and it was evidently only a temporary structure, probably of wood, and not a building like the other two Rostra. It stood upon a circular basement, but the top was square; on the outside were fixed the brazen beaks which belonged to the captive vessels of the Antiates. About the Rostra were placed the statues of the ambassadors put to death by Lar Tolumnius, king of Veii, and others who suffered on similar occasions; the three Fates, Horatius Cocles, Camillus, Hercules, the father of Vitellius, and others who deserved well of their country. "When Caius Gracchus brought in his bill to regulate the courts of judicature, there was one thing very remarkable: whereas the orators before him, in all addresses to the people, stood with their faces towards the Senate House and the Comitium, he then, for the first time, turned the other way,—that is to say, towards the Forum,—and continued to speak in that position ever after. By this he intimated that the people ought to be addressed, and not the senate" (Plutarch). Suetonius tells us that on the death of Augustus "two funeral orations were pronounced in his praise, one before the Temple of Julius by Tiberius, and the other before the Rostra, under the old shops, by Drusus." Some read this passage, "from the old Rostra;" but our rendering is more correct, though in either case he is referring to the Rostra that stood in front of the Curia. The first time Cicero spoke from the Rostra was when he delivered his oration for the Manilian Law, A.U.C. 687, when in his forty-first year. After his assassination, the head and hands of Cicero were placed upon this Rostra, from where he had so often addressed the Romans—"that very Rostra, which he had made his own; nor was there a less concourse to see him there than had formerly been to hear him" (Florus, iv. 6). "That everybody might see them in the very place where he had formerly harangued with so much vehemence" (Dion Cassius, "Augustus"). THE ROSTRA. The form of this Rostra is preserved to us, being represented on a coin. There is an important passage in Pliny which shows the exact site of the Rostra, as it was used to mark the hour of noon. When the summoner caught sight of the sun passing the edge of the Rostra, he declared the hour of noon. A man standing on this site will roughly represent the Rostra, and as the gun fires at mid-day the edge of the sun can be seen coming past him by a person standing by the pedestal at the bank in front of S. Adriano, who will roughly represent the summoner. We have tried this numerous times with our audience, and it is the only spot on the Forum where it answers. "The accensus of the consuls proclaiming mid-day aloud, as soon as, from the Senate House, he caught sight of the sun between the Rostra and the GrÆcostasis: he also proclaimed the last hour, when the sun had gone off the MÆnian Column to the Prison" (Pliny, vii. 60). THE MONUMENT OF MARCUS AURELIUS.[5]In excavating the open space of the Comitium upon the Forum in the summer of 1872, an interesting discovery was made of two marble screens or balustrades sculptured on each side, the one From this it will be seen that we have made an important discovery bearing upon the topography of the Forum, which will be of interest not only to classical students, but to every one interested in the word Rome. We have discovered that the reliefs on the screens upon the Comitium in the Forum portray scenes from the life of Marcus Aurelius, showing in their backgrounds the buildings occupying two sides of the Forum—from the Temple of Concord to the Arch of Fabius—and that these marble balustrades led up to the statue of that emperor. The space where it stood can be plainly traced upon the pavement; and that is why these pictures refer to epochs of his life. The statue is still existing, and now stands in the square of the Capitol, where it was erected by Michael Angelo, who brought it from the Lateran in 1538, where it had been placed about 1187, when it was removed from the Forum, near the Column of Phocas, where it had long been looked upon as a statue of Constantine, and is so called in the Regiona Catalogue; hence its preservation. The whole group was evidently erected in honour of Marcus Aurelius, and in commemoration of the important events in his life depicted on the screens, as recorded by Dion Cassius. The first relief represents a scene upon the Forum between the old Rostra Marsyas and the fig-tree—burning the forty-six years' arrears of debts which Marcus Aurelius had forgiven the people. "After that he remitted all that had been due to the Public and Imperial Treasuries for the course of forty-six years, without including therein Hadrian's reign, and ordered all the papers of claims to be burned in the Forum" (Dion Cassius, "Marcus Aurelius"). This was on the marriage of his son Commodus with Crispina. It will be noticed that the relief is to the right of the fig-tree and Marsyas. Now, if we go round to the other relief, we have the same tree and Marsyas in the same relative positions; but the relief is to Giving the donation of eight pieces of gold. Roma, or perhaps Faustina, thanking him for the PuellÆ FaustinianÆ. "After he had come back to Rome, as he was one day haranguing the people, and speaking of the number of years he had spent abroad in his expeditions, the citizens with a loud voice cried out, 'Eight,' at the same time extending their hands to receive as many pieces of gold. The emperor, smiling, repeated, 'Eight,' and ordered every Roman eight pieces, which was so considerable a sum, that so great a one was never given before by any emperor" (Dion Cassius, "Marcus Aurelius"). It will be noticed that two men are holding up their hands with fingers extended, one five, the other three—eight. The other scene on this relief represents a female figure advancing to the seated figure of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, leading a child and carrying another, to thank him for the orphan schools he founded in Rome in memory of his wife after her death, and which he named after her. "New Faustinian schools he instituted in honour of his dead wife" (Julius Capitolinus, "M. Antoninus," xxvi.). THE SUOVETAURILIA.Upon the inner sides of the Avenue are represented on each balustrade a boar, a ram, and a bull—the animals offered at the triple sacrifice, or suovetaurilia (from sus, ovis, taurus), which was performed once every five years, or lustrum, for the purification of the city. It was an institution of Servius Tullius, the ceremony consisting in leading the boar, ram, and bull thrice round the assembly of the people, and then offering them to Mars. There is a similar representation upon a relief of Trajan on the Arch of Constantine, and upon a pedestal found near the Arch of Septimius Severus. To our left of the Arch of Severus is THE ROSTRA AD PALMAM.Neither the position nor the construction of this Rostra answers to that of the original Suggestum, which took the name of Rostra from having fixed on it the six bronze beaks of the Antiates' ships. The original Rostra, shown on a coin of Palikanus, the orator mentioned by Cicero ("Brutus," lxii.)—see page 42—was a wooden pulpit. Its exact site we have already identified. The last historical notice that Under the Empire the Rostra had lost its use, and only served occasionally for the emperor to address the people from, or for reading out edicts and proclamations. The western end of the Forum saw many changes after the fire under Commodus, and was rearranged under Septimius Severus, who restored the old edifices, retaining the names of the founders, and erected others (Spartianus, "Severus," xxiii.). In 203 an arch was erected to Severus and his two sons, and a new Rostra was made on the south side of this arch. By cutting away a piece of the slope of the Capitoline Hill, he formed an escarpment 11 feet high, which was faced with a curved brick wall, and cased with Porta Santa marble, in panels 3 feet 1 inch wide. Between each pair of panels there is a space 6½ inches wide, from which a piece of marble jutted out 3½ inches. Only one of these exists. On it there was fixed a bronze beak, probably made in imitation of the old ones, for in that day they had no naval foes from whom to capture ships. If there was one row only, there were eighteen in all; if two rows, thirty-six. This in itself is sufficient to show the ridiculousness of calling this the original Rostra, which had six beaks only. The peculiar marble casing also shows late work. At the north end of this platform was erected the Umbilicus (E), and on the south end We believe these changes on this Rostra were made in the time of Aurelian (270), after the death of Claudius II., whose statue was erected on this Rostra. "Illi totius orbis judicio in rostris posita est columna palmata statua superfixa" (Pollio, "Claudius," iii.). Upon this Rostra also Aurelian erected a statue of the Genius of the Roman People. Aurelianus—"Genium Populi Romani in rostra posuit" ("E Chronicis antiquis excerpta Aurelianus"). The fourth century guides, "Curiosum Urbis" and "De Regionibus" (in Regio viii.), mention the Genium Populi Romani, the latter adding "aureum." They both mention three Rostra in the Forum. The statue of Claudius was not represented as wearing the Roman toga, but the Greek pallium, from which this Rostra became known as the Rostra ad Palmam; and this part of the Forum in later times was called ad Palmam. Theodoric—"Deinde veniens ingressus urbem venit ad Senatum, et ad Palmam populo adlocutus" ("Excerpta Valesiana," lxvi.). "Ligaverunt ei manus a tergo et decollaverunt extra Capitolium et extrahentes jactaverunt eum juxta arcum triumphi ad Palmam" ("Acta SS., Mai." vii.). Ammianus Marcellinus (xvi. x. 13) describes Constantius's visit in 356 to this Rostra: "When he arrived at the Rostra, he gazed with amazed awe on the Forum, the most renowned monument of ancient power; and being bewildered with the number of wonders on every side to which he turned his eyes, having addressed the nobles in the Senate House and harangued the populace from the Rostra, he retired." This expresses the feelings of many visitors in our day. The site commands a good view of the Forum. RELIEF FROM THE ARCH OF CONSTANTINE REPRESENTING THE ROSTRA AD PALMAM, ETC. The remains of this Rostra are best illustrated by the representation of it in the relief on the Arch of Constantine; and by no possible imagination can it be made to agree with the coin of Palikanus. In the centre is a platform with a straight front, having a lattice balustrade; on the right is a statue of Claudius II., and on the left the statue of the Genius of Rome. A group of people stand behind the railing and surround Constantine, who is addressing the people. Behind are five Corinthian columns surmounted with statues. The balustrade stood on the top of the tufa wall, and some of the fallen gray granite columns still exist. To our right, clear of the Rostra, is the Arch of Severus, a group of people being in front, looking up to the Rostra. On the left, in the background, are the Arch of Tiberius, spanning the Vicus Jugarius, and four of the arches of the Basilica Julia—the foreground being occupied by a crowd of people facing towards the Rostra. The scene here depicted was no doubt that which took place on the entry of Constantine into Rome: "And with a loud voice and by inscriptions he made known to all men the salutary standard" (Eusebius, "Life of Constantine," xl.). In the relief the head of Constantine is unfortunately missing; but it seems very appropriate that he should be represented addressing the Roman people from that Rostra, which was decorated with the statue of his ancestor Claudius II. There are no beaks shown on the relief; but along the tufa wall, at regular intervals of 3 feet 4 inches, are cut grooves 6½ inches wide and 1½ inch deep: in these grooves are holes which, if they were to sustain beaks, would give thirty-six for a single row, and seventy-two for a double row. We doubt if these grooves and holes were for beaks. They were more probably for the supports of the marble casing; they do not go completely through the wall. Some authorities call these remains on the Clivus the Rostra Vetera, or the original Rostra. But it does not answer classic description, and the construction shows it to be of late date. It does not stand on the Comitium, or before the Curia, nor under the old shops. Besides, it looks down the Forum; so from here how could Gracchus have turned from the Senate House and Comitium towards the Forum? THE UMBILICUSwas a monument marking the centre of the Roman world. The ruin of the Umbilicus is at the side of the Arch of Septimius Severus, at the end of the Rostra ad Palmam. Its pyramidal shape upon a round base can easily be distinguished. THE ASYLUM OF ROMULUS.This was between the Clivus Capitolinus and the Pass of the Two Groves (Via Arco di Septimo Severo), under the Capitoline Hill, and served afterwards as an advanced fort to the citadel. "He opened a sanctuary, in the place where the enclosure now is, on the road down from the Capitoline [Temple], called the Pass of the Two Groves" (Livy, i. 8). "He surrounded it with a high stone wall" (Ovid, "Fasti," iii. 231). The gate leading into it was called the Porta Pandana—"ever-open gate" (Solinus, i. 13. See Plutarch, in "Romulus;" Dionysius, ii. 15; Florus, i. 1; Varro and Festus). The remains of the tufa wall exist on the left of the Clivus, in front of the Temple of Saturn. THE CLOACA MAXIMA,or great drain, begun by Tarquin the Great, containing a large stream of water rushing along, as it did over two thousand years ago, is exposed to view at the east end of the Basilica Julia. It was finished by Tarquin the Proud, B.C. 556 (Livy, i. 38, 55). "Men spoke in admiration of the public sewers, too, a work more stupendous than any, as mountains had to be pierced for their construction, and navigation might be carried on beneath Rome; an event which happened in the Ædileship of M. Agrippa, after he had filled the office of consul." (See Dion Cassius, "Augustus," A.U.C. 721.) "For this purpose there are seven streams turned into the artificial channels, and flowing beneath the city. Rushing onward, like so many impetuous torrents, they are compelled to carry off and sweep away all the sewerage" (Pliny, xxxvi. 24). FRAGMENTSof different buildings lie scattered about; to what edifices they belonged "pronounce who can." More than two hundred columns, and fifty capitals of exquisite workmanship, have been discovered in the excavations of the Forum. Near the reliefs on the Comitium is a pedestal with the following inscription:— TO THE ANNIHILATOR OF TYRANTS, Having now made the circuit of the Forum, we will proceed to THE SCALÆ ANNULARIÆ.Beyond the Temple of Castor, to the right of the Temple of Vesta, are remains of these stairs. "Augustus lived at first near the Roman Forum, above the Ringmaker's Stairs, in a house which had once been occupied by Calvus the orator" (Suetonius, "Augustus," lxxii.). Calvus the orator, a friend of Cicero, lived on the Palatine; and the ScalÆ AnnulariÆ was a flight of stairs that led from the east end of the Forum up the north side of the Palatine to the Clivus VictoriÆ. On the 12th of April 1882, a piece of the marble plan was found here which, curiously enough, represents this part of the Forum, showing the side of the Temple of Castor and the Ringmaker's Stairs. HOUSE OF THE VIRGINS.Between the Temple of Vesta and the Sacra Via was the original dwelling-place of the Vestals, of which little remains beyond tufa walls beneath the more recent level. These walls were again exposed to view in some excavations made in the spring of 1886. They are marked in black on our Plan (page 61), being now again covered up. Martial (i. 70), in addressing his book which he sends to Proculus, says, "You will pass by the Temple of Castor, near that of ancient Vesta, and that goddess's virgin home." Dionysius (ii. 67) says: "They live near by the temple of the goddess." VESTA'S DUST-BIN.By the side of the temple is a pit four feet square, where the ashes and sweepings of the temple were deposited; which were cleared out on the 15th of June, and thrown down the Porta Stercoraria, on the Clivus Capitolinus, into the Cloaca. (Ovid, "F." vi. 237, 712; Varro, "L. L." v.; Festus.) THE SHRINE OF MERCURY.Beyond the Temple of Vesta, on the right, is a small brick shrine. The base of the statue of this shrine was fortunately found telling us the name. DIO On the flank of the base is another inscription, giving us the date of its erection, April 26, 275 A.D. The brick podium of the shrine was cased with marble, one piece, one foot four inches high, being in situ on the side towards the steps. It supported an entablature of Carrara marble formed by two half-columns at the rear and two columns in front, of the fluted composite order. On the frieze is the inscription, in beautifully cut letters five inches high, recording its erection by the Roman senate and people— SENATVS . POPVLVSQVE . ROMANVS The podium is 4 feet 7 inches high, 9 feet 9 inches wide, 8 feet 2 The travertine steps by the side of the Shrine of Mercury led into THE ATRIUM VESTÆ.After the destructive fire of 192, the Forum and edifices on the Sacra Clivus were rebuilt by Septimius Severus and Julia Domna (Spartianus, Dion Cassius, Eutropius), the empress taking upon herself the special work of rebuilding the temple and residence of the Vestal Virgins; and although the original podium of the temple was used, it was considerably raised by rubble being placed on the top of the ancient tufa platform. This was necessary owing to the raising of the level from dÉbris. For the Atrium VestÆ a different site was selected, more to the south under the Palatine; in fact the whole disposition of the edifices about here was changed, as proved by comparing the earlier with the later classical notices, and the excavations of 1883–4. DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE. To commemorate this rebuilding a silver coin was struck by the empress, bearing her head on the obverse; and on the reverse is the Temple of Vesta in the background, in front of which stands an altar, and on either side are three virgins, two of whom are pouring an oblation over the altar. This new arrangement of the buildings is thus exactly described by Servius (in "Æn." vii. 153): "By the Temple of Vesta was the Regia of Numa Pompilius, but near to the Atrium of Vesta, which was distinct from the temple." Standing just inside, at the top of the steps, we have the whole Atrium VestÆ, as their residence was named, uncovered before us—a large peristylium paved with black and white mosaic, 222 feet long by 76 feet wide. Standing out thirteen feet from the boundary wall of the Atrium, and extending all round the court, were forty-four At the east end of the Atrium is the fountain, beyond which is a step up on to a tesselated pavement, and from that four steps lead into the tabularium, or reception-room, having on each side three chambers, in which most probably the Vestals deposited those objects intrusted to their sacred keeping. On each side of the Atrium were the residential chambers of the High Vestals, the simple Virgins, and their domestics, two stories high. Those on the south side are best preserved. From the tesselated pavement a door gives access into a corridor, once paved with white and black mosaic; at the end, on the left, is a bath-chamber; and opening out from the corridor are several chambers showing traces of marble pavements, frescoed and marble-cased walls. In the second chamber are the remains of the mill for grinding the salt used in sacrifice. (See Virgil, "Buc." viii. 82; Horace, "O." iii. 23; Festus.) Pliny (xxxi. 41) says, "It is in our sacred rites more particularly that the high importance of salt is to be recognized, no offering ever being made unaccompanied by crushed salt." This corridor does not run the whole length of the Atrium, but turns off to a flight of stairs leading to the upper chambers. The remainder of the chambers on this side were reached direct from the Atrium by steps. The first one contains a hexagonal pedestal to Flavia Publicia. From the marble and fresco decorations found here, these rooms were most probably the apartment of the High Vestal Virgin. The inscriptions to the High Vestals found, date between 180 and 364 A.D., and were erected in return for some advantage derived from the patronage of the High Vestal. Historically they are of no great importance, giving us only names of Vestals that were already known. The most important inscriptions are those found here which Flavia Publicia. Erected July 9, 283 A.D. ConcordiÆ. Dedicated June 9, 364. She was the last High Vestal, and her name was erased because she became a Christian. Coelia Claudiana. 253–7 A.D. Caracalla pedestal. July 2, 114 A.D. PrÆtextata Crassi. 180–200 A.D. Flavia Publicia. 257–284. Numisia Maximilla. 201–216. Statue of an unknown Vestal; no head. Flavia Publicia. 257–84. Another pedestal to her, with statue adjoining. Pedestal to Trentia Flavola. About 350. Blank pedestal, with statue of Ceres adjoining. Pedestal to Flavia Publicia. September 30, 257. Statue of Vettius Agorius PrÆtextatus. 380. Fragment of a seated statue. Statue unknown. Statue and pedestal to Flavia Publicia. This part of the city was finally destroyed by the great fire, when Robert Guiscard burned Rome from the Lateran to the Capitol, in 1084. During this long period of nearly seven hundred years the Atrium VestÆ underwent many changes and received other tenants, for the new excavations show that it had been inhabited after the Vestals were abolished. At the rear of the first pedestal a terra-cotta jar was discovered, containing a brooch bearing the name of Pope Martin III., 943–46; a gold coin of the Eastern Emperor Theophilus (827–42); and eight hundred and thirty Anglo-Saxon silver coins of Alfred the Great (871–900), Edward (900–24), Edgar Athelstan (925–41), and Edmund I. (941–48)—four kings of Northumbria—and of Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury (889–923). We may presume that this money was brought to Rome by some English tourist, who left his all and fled when the building was finally destroyed by fire; or that it formed part of a donation of "Peter's Pence." Ethelwulf, the English king during the time of Leo IV. (845–57), was the first English prince who gave tribute to the See of Rome; and as such his portrait is to be seen in chiaro-oscuro, by Caravaggio, in the Stanze of the Incendio del Borgo in the Vatican. After running a course of one thousand and eighty years, Gratian The Bishop of Rome and his clergy came by right, as heads of the established religion, into the possessions of the defunct faiths, and inhabited the quarters of the Vestals, assuming the title of the head of the ancient religion, Pontifex Maximus, a title held to the present day—a dignity two thousand six hundred and forty years old, the oldest title in the world. THE PALLADIUM.In the centre of the peristylium, just coming to the surface and occupying the whole of the width of the open court, are the foundations of an octagonal edifice in brick, with ribs running from the angles to a central circle. Here, doubtless, was the shrine in which was kept the Sacred Palladium, or fatal token of the empire of the Romans. "Fatale pignus imperii Romani" (Livy, xxvi. 27). "Kept under the safeguard of Vesta's temple" (ibid. v. 52). This was a statuette of "Minerva, by no male beheld" (Lucan, ix. 994). "The Vestals alone were permitted to behold the Trojan Minerva" (ibid. i. 598). "That fell from heaven" (Dionysius, ii. 67). It seems it was originally kept in the Temple of Vesta itself (Pliny, vii. 45; Ovid, "T." iii. 1, 39). "The sacred image of Minerva, to which the Romans pay uncommon veneration, and which, as they say, was brought from Troy, was exposed to public view (during the fire of 192), so that the men of our age beheld the Palladium, never seen by any before since the time it came from Ilium into Italy. For the Vestal Virgins laid hold on it in the hurry and confusion, and carried it openly through the Sacred Way into the Imperial Palace" (Herodian, in "Commodus"). "Elagabalus, wanting a wife for his sun-god, sent for the sacred image of Pallas, which the Romans worship in secret from human eyes, and had it brought into his own bed-room. Thus he dared to displace the Palladium, that had never been moved since the time it came from Ilium, except when the temple was destroyed by fire, and they conveyed the goddess into the Imperial Palace" (ibid. in "Antoninus;" Lampridius, in "Elagabalus," iii.). Fragments of a statuette of Minerva were found in the excavations. THE VICUS VESTÆ.From the Via Sacra, above the Arch of Titus, a street, passing along a ledge on the northern side of the Palatine, runs into the Vicus Tuscus at the back of the Temple of Castor. This was the street of the Vestals, separating their house from the Imperial Palace. Asconius ("ad Ciceronem pro Scauro,") speaks of it. We now cross over to the Sacred Way. The first object that attracts our attention is the CHURCH OF SS. COSMO AND DAMIANO,on the left, occupying the site and built out of the remains of two temples by Felix IV., 527 A.D. The subterranean church contains a spring said to have been called forth by S. Felix. Upon the apse of the upper church is a mosaic of the time of Felix. THE TEMPLE OF ROMULUS,son of Maxentius, forms the vestibule of the present church. It was a circular building, and fronted towards the Via Sacra. The second temple Felix made into the nave of the church; it was quadrangular, and built of brick, but the western wall was of blocks of Gabii stone, forming part of the second wall of Rome, which was here utilized for the temple. It is thirty feet in diameter, and was erected in 302 A.D. Ligorio ("Vatican Codex," 3439) has preserved the inscription:— IMP . CAES . AUGUSTUS . MAXIMUS . TRIUMPH The two porphyry columns and the cornice belong to the temple; but the bronze doors are Etruscan, having been sent from Perugia by Urban VIII. in 1630. The wings on either side of the doorway were added in 772–95 by Hadrian I.; the niches, which still show traces of frescoing, being for relics of the saints. At the same time the present flooring of the church was inserted some feet above the ancient level. On the left are slight remains of THE TEMPLE OF VICAPORTA, VICTORY.Remains of this temple have been discovered in the recent excavations Dionysius (v. 19), Plutarch in "Publicola," and Livy (ii. 7) record that Publius Valerius, surnamed Publicola, built a house on the Velia overlooking the Forum; but owing to the invidious remarks made he pulled the house down, and re-erected it at the foot of the Velia. Plutarch adds, "upon the spot where the Temple of Victory now stands." Livy also says, "The house was built at the foot of the hill where the Temple of Victory now stands." Dionysius (v. 48) says, after speaking of the poverty of Publicola, "The senate decreed that he should be buried at the expense of the public, and appointed a place in the city, under the hill called Velia, near the Forum, where his body was burnt and buried." PLAN OF THE NORTH SIDE OF THE SACRA VIA.
View larger image. This Temple of Victory was dedicated, B.C. 295, by the consul Lucius Postumus. "He dedicated the Temple of Victory, for the building of which he had provided, when curule Ædile, out of the money arising from fines" (Livy, x. 33). This temple is represented on a coin of Gordianus III., 240 A.D., who restored it after his Persian victories. TEMPLE OF VENUS AND ROMA,erected by Hadrian in 134 A.D. It was the largest and most sumptuous in Rome. It was designed by Hadrian himself, who sent the drawings to the celebrated architect Apollodorus, whom he had banished, to ask his opinion. He replied, "That Hadrian ought to have made it more lofty, and with subterraneous accommodation for receiving, as occasion might require, the machinery of the theatre, and for giving it a more imposing aspect towards the Via Sacra. That as to the statues, they were so disproportionate, that if the goddesses desired to get up and walk out, they would not be able" (Dion Cassius; Xiphilinus, "Hadrian"). For this criticism Apollodorus lost his head; and we learn that the temple was not on a lofty platform, that there were no subterranean chambers, and that it was not imposing towards the Via Sacra. The front was towards the Forum of Peace. What is now the back of the church, in a stone-cutter's yard, was originally the front of the temple. It is mentioned by Prudentius as being in the vicinity of the Via Sacra. "The Sacred Way resounded (they say) with lowings before the shrine of Rome; for she also herself is worshipped with blood after the fashion of a goddess, and the name of the place (Rome) is regarded as a divinity. The temples also of the city and of Venus rise with a like roof; and at one and the same time frankincense is consumed to the twin-gods." It could not have faced the Via Sacra, or Maxentius would not have built the temple of his son against it, 311 A.D. The bronze doors of the Round Temple were found at Perugia by Urban VIII. The two columns of porphyry, with the cornice, are supposed to have been found amongst the ruins when it was turned into a church. On the right side of the present church is a piece of wall of Gabii tufa stone of opus quadratum. At the back of the church is the brick front wall of the temple, on which the celebrated Pianta Capitolina was originally attached (see page 185) by means of cement and cramps, and which was found below the soil under the wall, having been thrown down by an earthquake. Suetonius tells us that Nero's colossus stood in the vestibule of his palace. Martial says, "It was removed by Vespasian, when he built It was a second time removed, for Spartianus informs us that "Hadrian removed it with twenty-four elephants from the place where now stands the Temple of the City." Thus we learn that the spot where the Temple of Rome is, was formerly the atrium of Nero's Golden House, and that the Temple of Peace occupied the vestibule. "Maxentius restored the Temple of Venus and Rome, which had been damaged by fire" (Aur. Victor, "CÆs." xl.). The Emperor Heraclius gave permission to Pope Honorius I. to remove the bronze tiles of this temple in order to use them for the roof of S. Peter's; whence they were stolen by the Saracens in 846. Dion Cassius (lxxi. 31) tells us that "Cleopatra's statue in gold is to be seen in the Temple of Venus to this day." Also that "the senate ordered two statues of silver to be erected in the Temple of Venus; one in honour of Faustina, and the other in honour of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. They likewise ordered an altar to be set up before it, on which every contracted couple were to sacrifice before marriage." Mr. J. H. Parker, C.B., made some excavations under the wall of Gabii stone in 1868–9, and found that a street ran from the Sacred Way along the side of the wall, in which was a small doorway into the temple. This has now been re-excavated by the Government (1880), who have taken possession of the Round Temple. The government have recently pulled down the chapel of the burial society adjoining the Temple of Romulus, and on the two thousand six hundred and thirty-third anniversary of the foundation of Rome, April 21st, 1880, the two cipollino columns were found to have belonged to the TEMPLE OF THE PENATES.As the Lares were the departed spirits of the ancestors of each family who watched over their descendants, so the Penates were the gods selected by each family as its special protectors. And as there were the Lares of the city, so there were the Penates, whose chapel was termed Ædes Deum Penatium, and the gods were called Penates Populi Romani. These Penates were supposed to have been the gods brought from Troy by Æneas. We learn from the "Monumentum Ancyranum," that Augustus THE RECENT EXCAVATIONS.In the new excavations upon the line of the Via Sacra a monumental cippus has been found, with the following inscription,—FABIUS. TITIANUS.—V. C. CONSUL.—PRAEF. URBI.—CURAVIT. He was consul and prefect of the city, A.D. 339 to 341, under the Emperor Constans I. This was one of three bases recorded as having stood in front of the Temple of Romulus in the sixteenth century, one of which is in the Museum of the Villa Borghese, and the other is in the Naples Museum. Another base was found, dedicated to the Emperor Constantius II. by Flavius Leontius, prefect of Rome in 356 A.D. This is similar to the one in the Capitoline Museum. The inscription reads,—TOTO. ORBE. VICTORI.—DN. CONSTANTIO. MAX.—TRIUMFATORI.—SEMPER. AUG.—FL. LEONTIUS. V. C.—PRAEF. URBI. ITERUM.—VICE. SACRA. INDICANS.—D. N. M. Q. EIUS. Remains of Roman and medieval buildings and a fountain have been uncovered in the course of excavating, also some architectural fragments. The whole length of the Via Sacra has been now uncovered as far as the steps leading up to S. Bonaventura. THE HOUSE OF JULIUS CÆSAR.The recent excavations along the line of the Via Sacra brought to light some unimportant remains of shops and houses facing towards the street. These buildings are of the time of Constantine, and agree in their construction with his Basilica on the opposite side of LARIBUS AUG. SACRUM. From the line of the bases of the columns we see that the front of the older house sloped back diagonally from the Via Sacra, the point farthest from the Forum being nearest to the Via Sacra; whilst the more recent construction was on a line parallel with, and abutting on to, the Sacred Way. This early house, appearing beneath the building of later date, is in all probability the house in which Julius CÆsar lived. The construction agrees with that of earlier and contemporary date. It is "He first inhabited a small house in the Suburra; but after his advancement to the pontificate, he occupied a palace belonging to the state in the Via Sacra. Many writers say that he liked his residence to be elegant ... and that he carried about in his expeditions tesselated and marble slabs for the floor of his tent" (Suetonius, "CÆsar," xlvi.). "As a mark of distinction he was allowed to have a pediment on his house" (Florus, iv. 3). "Julius CÆsar once shaded the whole Forum and Via Sacra from his house, as far as the Clivus Capitolinus" (Pliny, xix. 6). "The night before his murder, as he was in bed with his wife, the doors and windows of the room flew open at once.... Calpurnia dreamed that the pediment was fallen, which, as Livy tells us (in the lost books), the senate had ordered to be erected upon CÆsar's house by way of ornament and distinction; and that it was the fall of it which she lamented and wept for" (Plutarch, in "CÆsar"). "He lay for some little time after he expired, until three of his slaves laid the body on a litter and carried it home, with one arm hanging down over the side" (Suetonius, "CÆsar," lxxxii.). The house of CÆsar was under the Palatine, on which, above CÆsar's, stood the house of Cicero. "He (Vettius) did not name me, but mentioned that a certain speaker, of consular rank (Cicero), and neighbour to the consul (CÆsar), had suggested to him that some Ahala Servilius, or Brutus, must be found" (Cicero, "Ad Att." ii. 24). In CÆsar's fourth consulship, the year before he was killed, for some reason or other the defence of King Deiotarus by Cicero was heard by CÆsar in his own house. Cicero says to CÆsar: "I am affected also by the unusual circumstance of the trial in this place, because I am pleading so important a cause—one the fellow of which has never been brought under discussion—within the walls of a private house. I am pleading it out of the hearing of any court or body of auditors, which are a great support and encouragement to an orator. I rest on nothing but your eyes, your person, your countenance. I behold you alone; the whole of my speech is necessarily confined to you alone.... But since the walls of a house narrow all these topics, and since the pleading of the cause is greatly crippled by the place, it behoves you, O CÆsar," &c. ("Pro Deiot." ii.). It was in the year of his prÆtorship (62 B.C.) that the scandal of Plutarch speaks of it as "a great house." Ovid says the house of Numa, the Regia, was "small," showing that the house of CÆsar and the Regia were two distinct edifices. This old house of which we have been speaking fronted towards the Temple of Vesta, whilst the portico and shops, built at a late period over its ruins, ran parallel with the Via Sacra. The house side of the atrium is plainly marked by the fragments of columns, composed of travertine coated with stucco, and frescoed. There is the base of an isolated column near what must have been the middle of the house side; and to its right there is a half column of the same workmanship, and between these two bases runs a travertine gutter which drained the atrium. Amidst the shops built over the atrium are remains of beautiful black and white mosaic pavement, the fragments of the borders showing that they once belonged to the older edifice. On the right of the atrium, towards the Via Sacra, was an area-vestibulum, giving access to the house from the Via Sacra, and, like it, paved with polygonal blocks of silex. There was another entrance to the house at the point where it nearly touched, at its north-eastern corner, the Via Sacra. The bases of two columns mark the ingress into a small vestibule which has a mosaic pavement, on the right of which was the entrance to the house, the threshold of travertine stone being in situ. There are the two holes at the ends where the doors turned on their pivots, and the bolt-hole in the middle. THE PORTICUS MARGARITARIA.After the fire, the site of CÆsar's house was occupied by shops and dwellings, along the front of which was an arcade. As these shops were mostly kept by pearl-dealers, the arcade was known as the Porticus Margaritaria. It is mentioned in the "Curiosum" and the "Notitia" of the fourth century as in the eighth region, Forum Romanum Magnum. In the recent excavations along the line of the Via Sacra, the THE SACRA CLIVUS.Horace was wont to come down the Sacred Way ("S." i. 9), and talks of Britons descending it in chains ("Ep." vii.). Now we are free to ascend it. Where the Sacred Way ascends the Velia ridge it will be noticed that the road is extraordinarily wide (45 feet). This was no doubt made after the great fire under Commodus, for four feet below the pavement was found the original and narrower street, and beneath that the drain in the reticulated work of the republic. The right-hand side of the ascent was bordered with honorary monuments and inscriptions to Trajan, Hadrian, Titus, Septimius Severus, Caracalla, and Constantine; but the most interesting, perhaps, was the monument with Greek inscription of Gordianus, erected to him by the citizens of Tarsus, St. Paul's city, and interesting as showing that the close friendship between Rome and Tarsus continued to this late period. Four columns of Porta Santa marble stood on a podium, 7 feet by 4 feet, and supported a canopy, under which was the emperor's statue. On the cornice was the inscription, ??????? , filled in with bronze. THE VICUS SANDALIARIUS.This was the street mentioned by Dionysius as leading into the CarinÆ. In the "Curiosum" and "Notitia" is mentioned the Apollinem Sandaliarium. This was a statue of Apollo, which gave name to a street of the fourth region. Suetonius ("Aug." lvii.) says: "With which donations Augustus purchased some costly images of the gods, which he erected in several of the streets of the city, as that of Apollo Sandaliarius." It is mentioned by Aulus Gellius (xviii. 4): "In Sandaliario forte apud librarios fuimus." Also by Galen ("De Libris suis," iv. 361). The marble plan of Rome shows this street by the letters DLARIVS. This was the street, recently excavated, between the Temple of At the entrance from the Via Sacra there still exists a brick pedestal on which the statue may have stood. For engraving of this, see Gruter, cvi. 7, and Dcxxi. 3. In this street the remains of the Temple of Venus and Rome can be distinctly seen. A short distance up it is tunnelled over to allow the Basilica of Constantine to square; but the tunnel is closed about half way through. From the level of the street the western tribunal of the Basilica has been built up. The tunnel, called Arco d'Ladroni, and the street itself, have been used as a burial-place by the monks of the church; and there is a ninth century fresco of the dead body of the Saviour over a shrine on the left. Beyond is the BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE,the colossal arches of which have served as models to architects for building all the larger churches in Rome. This splendid ruin usually bears the name of the Temple of Peace, erected by Vespasian in this neighbourhood and partly on this site, and which was destroyed by fire as early as the time of Commodus, A.D. 191. Herodianus, who saw the fire, says: "By the slight earthquake and the thunderbolt which followed it, the whole of the sacred enclosure was consumed." Claudius Galenus, the celebrated physician, says that the whole edifice was consumed, as also most of his writings, which were in his shop in the Via Sacra. This is one of the most imposing ruins in Rome; the three noble arches which formed the northern side being almost perfect, rising to the height of 95 feet, and having a span of 80 feet. The southern side was similar; whilst a noble vaulted roof, supported from the side piers and arches, covered the centre. Thus, entering from the Vicus Eros, on the east, the spectator saw a magnificent hall 333 feet long by 84 feet wide, with aisles 60 feet in width. To the central hall the tribunal at the west end was added in the rebuilding of Constantine, when he made the main entry from the Sacra Via, the ruins of which exist in the porphyry columns. By this entry the nave is 227 feet long, the tribunal being 24 feet deep, and the aisles 80 feet wide. Nibby has the merit of having been the first to prove that these ruins are the last remains of the Basilica erected by Maxentius, and completed and partially rebuilt by Constantine the Great. In 1828 a medal of Maxentius was found amongst the ruins of a piece of the At a later period it may have been found more suitable to add a splendid portal on the side facing the Via Sacra; opposite to which, in the central side arch, a tribune was erected. So whichever way you enter it, it is a nave with two aisles. Of the vast vaulted arches spanning the middle space, only the supports from which the arches sprang still exist. These, however, suffice to indicate what they must have been. The Basilica contained many works of art, and the roof was supported by eight columns. The Via Sacra here passed along the front of the present Church of S. Francis of the Romans, and the Arch of Titus, to the Palatine. By applying at No. 61 Via del Colosseo, at the back of the Basilica, permission will be given to ascend to the top, from which a magnificent view is obtained. On our right is the CHURCH OF S. FRANCISCA ROMANA.Built in the ninth century, and called S. Maria Nuova. The mosaic on the apse dates from 862. There is a monument to Gregory XI., and a relief representing the return of the Papal court to Rome from Avignon. In the transept are the two stones marked with depressions, said to have been where Peter knelt when he prayed that Simon Magus might fall. (See picture in S. Peter's, page 115.) The church contains a beautiful marble ciborium, and monuments to Cardinal Vulcani, 1322, and General Rido, 1475. In the Via S. Teodoro is the entrance to THE PALATINE HILL AND THE PALACE OF THE CÆSARS.Open every day. Admission, one lira. Sunday, free. In order to fully understand these ruins, it is advisable to attend the lectures given on the spot by the author of these Rambles, Mr. S. Russell Forbes, who conducts visitors over, describing fully the remains of the Arcadian, Kingly, Republican, and Imperial Periods. Particulars to be had at 93 Via Babuino. PLAN OF THE PALATINE HILL AND PALACE OF THE CÆSARS Itinerary for Visiting the Palatine. Turn to the left when through Entrance Gate.
The foundations of most magnificent buildings of the imperial times lie buried in the gardens. The paintings on the walls are in themselves sufficient to give us an idea of the splendour of the In our description of the Palatine we have classed the remains in chronological order. In the accompanying plan they are numbered in the order in which they are best visited. The numbers correspond with those placed by the title of the different ruins in the Guide; so that the visitor can follow the numbers consecutively in his ramble, and turn to the corresponding number for the description. We only treat of the actual remains. THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE PALATINE.In studying the Palatine Hill, the topography presents the first difficulty. It must be borne in mind that the form of the hill has undergone many important changes since the days of Romulus, and, as seen by us, is very different from what it was when Romulus built his city. Now it presents a lozenge-shaped form; then it was oblong and smaller. Our theory is, that if a line be drawn from about the Arch of Titus across the hill, that part to the right or west was the extent of the hill in the time of Romulus; and that to the left or east, formerly "the pastures round the old town" (Varro), now presenting the form of a hill, was no hill then. From a careful survey of the part to the left of our line, we find it to be artificially formed of imperial ruins upon the top of ruins, rubbish, and accumulation of soil, and not of rock or solid earth. This new light does away with innumerable difficulties in studying the form of Roma Quadrata, and presents to us instead a very simple story. If the hill had been of the same form then as now, Romulus would have occupied the whole of it: this he certainly did not do, as his walls are to the right of our line; and it is not likely that he would have left part of the hill outside his boundary to command his city or to be occupied by foes. Our view agrees with classic authority. Tacitus (xii. 24) describing the pomoerium or boundary of Roma Quadrata, which went round the base of the hill on the level below, thus showing its shape, says: "The first outline began at the Ox-Market, where still is to be seen the brazen statue of a bull, that animal being commonly employed at the plough. From that place a furrow was carried on "Ædem Larum in Summa Sacra Via" ("Mon. Ancyr."). "Ancus Martius (habitavit) in Summa Sacra Via, ubi Ædes Larum est" (Solinus, i. 24). "Romulus built a temple to Jupiter, near the gate called Mugonia, which leads to the Palatine Hill from the Sacra Via" (Dionysius, ii. 30). The Sacred Way did not pass through the Arch of Titus, as is generally supposed, but passing by it led up to the Palatine—this can be seen by examining the stones—and was then called Clivus Palatinus. A large piece of the pavement still exists on the Palatine, leading up to the Ædem Larum, and which road is miscalled Nova Via. The road leading from the Arch of Titus to that of Constantine was called the Clivus Triumphalis. Hence the furrow must have passed under the north side of the Palatine, and down the west side to where it began; for Tacitus's account says, "Hence to the Forum which was added by Tatius." This The remains of the walls of Roma Quadrata existing are sufficient to show us their exact line, for we have remains on four different sides, and, curious enough, at three of the angles. On the west and east sides it appears to have been built up to support the scarped cliff and above it; but on the south it ran along the edge on the top of the cliff—the valley below, beyond the pomoerium, being then the Murzian Lake. Along the southern cliff it was not a solid wall, but had embrasures, through which a balista or catapult might be fired upon an enemy below—the remains of which are still existing. These are the oldest Roman arches, being older than the Cloaca of Tarquin or the arches of Ancus Martius. "But Romulus had formed the idea of a city rather than a real city; for inhabitants were wanting" (Florus, i. 1). The principal roadway upon the Palatine was the Nova Via, a new way, evidently made after the Via Sacra, and simply called Nova Via without any distinguishing name being given to it. It commenced at the Porta Mugonia on the east, inside Roma Quadrata, and was here called Summa Nova Via. "Tarquinius Priscus ad Mugoniam Portam supra Summam Novam Viam" [habitabat] (Solinus, i. 24). From this point it went along the north and down the west side past the gate—there being steps down from the gate to the road. The descent off the hill was called the Hill of Victory. "Sed Porta Romana instituta est a Romulo infimo Clivo VictoriÆ" (Festus). "QuÆ habet gradus in Nova Via" (Varro). Passing by the Porta Romana it turned to the left, or west, under the Palatine to the Velabrum, where it ended. This part was called Infima Nova Via. "Aius Loquens in Infima Nova Via" (Varro, "Ap. Gell." xvi. 17). This altar still exists at the south-west corner under the Palatine. "Hoc Sacrificium [to Larentia] fit in Velabro, qua in novam Viam exitur" (Varro, "Ling. Lat." vi.). ROMA QUADRATA.5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 19, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41. Romulus, the son of Rhea Silvia and Mars, founded Rome on the Palatine Hill, above the Tiber, 753 B.C., on the site of the Arcadian city of Evander, near the Lupercal, where the wolf had given him suckle. The city was built after the Etruscan rites, and surrounded by a massive wall, in a quadrangular form, whence it was called Roma Quadrata. See "Walls of Rome," page xvii . THE THREE GATES OF ROMA QUADRATA.Pliny (iii. 9) informs us that the city was entered by three gates. PORTA MUGONIA (14),situated on the east of the hill, the site of which has been identified by Varro ("L. L." 164):— "Moreover, I observe that the gates within the walls are thus named; that at the Palatine 'Mucionis' (from 'mugitus,' lowing), because through it they used to drive out the cattle into the pastures around the old town." PORTA ROMANA (40).At the middle of the western side, at the commencement of the ascent on the Via Nova, called the Clivus VictoriÆ in commemoration of the victory of Romulus over Acron. The remains were discovered March 1886. Varro says:— "The other, called Romulana, was so called from Rome, the same which has steps into the Nova Via at the shrine of VolupiÆ." Festus, speaking of the same gate, says:— "But the Porta Romana was set up by Romulus above the foot of the Hill of Victory, and this place is formed of tiers of steps disposed in a square. It is called Romana by the Sabines in particular, because it is the nearest entrance to Rome from the side of the Sabines." PORTA CARMENTA (8).Authorities on the subject say that the name and position of the third gate are lost. Now we contend that the mass of ruins called the Scali Caci are the remains of the third gate, and that that gate was the Porta Carmenta, as distinctly stated by Virgil in his description of the meeting of Æneas and Evander, "without the gates." "Thus, walking on, he spoke, and showed the gate, since called Carmental by the Roman state; then stopping, through the narrow gate they pressed" (Virgil, "Æn.," viii.). The position corresponds with his description, and is just the spot where a gate would be required. The remains consist of two different early periods—immense blocks of soft tufa of the Arcadian period, and blocks of hard brown tufa of the time of Romulus, corresponding with the material of which his wall is built. The Porta Carmenta was to the south, and is thus mentioned by Propertius (iv. 1):— "Where rose that house of Remus upon tiers of steps, a single hearth was once the brothers' modest reign." We suppose he uses the name of Remus here instead of Romulus on account of the rhythm. Solinus gives this description of it:— "It [Roma Quadrata] begins at the wood which is in the area of Apollo, and ends at the top of the stairs of Caius, where was [once] the cottage of Faustulus." Plutarch says ("Romulus," xx.):— "Romulus dwelt close by the steps, as they call them, of the fair shore, near the descent from the Mount Palatine to the Circus Maximus. There, they say, grew the holy blackthorn tree, of which they report that Romulus once, to try his strength, threw a dart from Mount Aventine, which struck so deep that no one could pluck it up, and grew into a trunk of considerable size, which posterity preserved and worshipped as one of the most sacred things, and therefore walled it about. "But, they say, when Caius CÆsar was repairing the steps about it, some of the labourers digging too close, the root corrupted, and the tree quite withered." Now, in this passage, we think we have an explanation of why it is called the Stairs of Caius, not Cacus. This name does not refer to Cacus, the shepherd robber, who had his cave on the Aventine, but, as we learn from the above passage from Plutarch, to Caius the emperor, who was nicknamed Caligula from his having worn the sandals so-called of the Roman troops—he having been brought up in the camp on the banks of the Rhine, Caius being his proper name. He, as we have seen, repaired these steps, and so they were called after him; but that was not their previous name. The question arises, What was that name? Why, none other than the Porta Carmenta, the missing third gate of Roma Quadrata, "the gate since called Carmental by the Roman state." It was up this gateway that the Romans brought the Sabine women when they ran off with them in the Circus Maximus. Valerius Antias says they were five hundred and forty-seven in number; Plutarch says there were six hundred and eighty-three, and that the event took place on the 18th of August. But before this the gate had another name, the original name in the Arcadian period. We know from Virgil and Diodorus Siculus that it existed before the time of Romulus, and was incorporated by him into his city. Let us see what that name was. "Hercules, after he had gone through Liguria and Tuscany, encamped on the banks of the Tiber, where Rome now stands, built many ages after by Romulus, the son of Mars. The natural inhabitants at that time inhabited a little town upon a hill, now called Mount Palatine. Here Potitius and Pinarius, the most eminent persons of quality among them, entertained Hercules. There are now at Rome ancient monuments of these men; for the most noble family, called the Pinarii, remains still among the Romans, and is accounted the most ancient at this day. And there are Potitius's stone stairs to go down from Mount Palatine (called after his name), adjoining to that which was anciently his house" (Diodorus Siculus, iv. 1). Thus we see that the spot was originally called the Stairs of Potitius. Virgil ("Æn.," viii.) informs us that Potitius, the Arcadian high priest, instituted the worship of Hercules; and that the priests were selected from the Pinarian house. "When the new walls were built by Servius Tullius, one of his gates was named Carmentalis after the above tradition; the original Porta Carmenta having become obsolete." The valley between the Palatine and Aventine, the site of the Circus Maximus, was formerly the Murzian Lake or bay, formed by an arm of the Tiber, and these stairs led down to the fair shore (Pulcrum Littus, ?a?? ??t? )—that is, to the shore of the lake, where Æneas landed—and this had nothing to do with the banks of the Tiber, which would hardly be called a fair shore by Plutarch. Virgil calls it "the strand." The above name was also given to one of the temples. THE TEMPLE OF ROMA QUADRATA (6)."A certain hallowed place on the Palatine before the Altar of Apollo Rhamnusii (5), which every city built with Etruscan rites contained, and in which were placed those things considered of good omen in founding a city" (Festus). This hallowed place, as well as the city, was called by Romulus Roma Quadrata. ALTAR OF APOLLO RHAMNUSII (5),called the Altar of Apollo of the Blackthorn. Erected in commemoration of the blackthorn tree that sprang from the staff of Romulus. The large tufa blocks of the altar, and in front of it the Temple of Roma Quadrata, still remain, and by their side the Porta Carmenta. THE CURIÆ VETERES (19).Romulus divided the people into three tribes, and each tribe into ten curiÆ (Dionysius, ii. 8), thus making thirty curiÆ in all. Each curia had its own priests and separate dining-room and chapel, which were also called curiÆ (Ibid., ii. 23). The only one of these which we have mentioned as existing at a late period is the one connected with the Palatine: as we have seen, it is one of the objects Tacitus gives us for the line of the plough. Now, on the Palatine, on that line, we have a ruin below the present surface agreeing with the time of Romulus in its construction, to which no name has been given by the topographers, but which we consider as the CuriÆ Veteres mentioned by Tacitus. It now supports the Auditorium of Domitian. THE HOUSE OF ROMULUS"was where the Roma Quadrata ended, at the corner as you turn from the Palatine Hill to the Circus" (Dionysius). It was upon that part of the hill called Germalus from the twins being left there when the flood went down. This would be the shelf at the south-west corner of the Palatine. THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER STATOR (13),vowed by Romulus when his army was fleeing before the Sabines, if Jupiter would stay their flight; hence the name. "Romulus built a temple to Jupiter near the Porta Mugonia" (Dionysius, ii. 30). It was restored by Scipio, A.U.C. 459 (Livy, x. 37). It was in this temple that Cicero made his first oration against Catiline (Plutarch). Cicero says that here the goods of Pompey were offered for sale. UNDER THE REPUBLIC.It was not till the glories of the republic outshone the memory of the kings that the Palatine became the favourite residence of the wealthy. We have record of the houses inhabited by Vaccus, Catulus, Crassus, the Gracchi, Ceneus, Cicero, Scaurus, Mark Antony, and other notorious republicans. Some slight remains of republican walls can be seen at various points. THE TEMPLE OF CYBELE (4).Dedicated by M. J. Brutus, B.C. 191, under the name of Mater IdÆa, Mother of the Gods (Livy, xxxvi. 36). "Cybele was not worshipped in Rome till A.U.C. 550, when the goddess, a stone, was THE TEMPLE OF VICTORY (9).The remains of this are just inside the Porta Carmenta. It was founded originally by the Greek settlers, and restored under the republic; the construction agrees with this supposition, for here we have the two different stones used in these periods, soft tufa and peperino. "Upon the top of the hill they set apart a piece of ground, which they dedicated to Victory, and instituted annual sacrifices to be offered up to her also, which the Romans perform even in my time" (Dionysius, i. 32), A.U.C. 458. "They carried the statue of Cybele into the Temple of Victory on the Palatine Hill" (Livy, xxix. 14). Near this ruin, on the other side of the road, are the remains of THE SHRINE OF MAIDEN VICTORY (9A).In A.U.C. 560, "Marcus Portius Cato dedicated a chapel to Maiden Victory, near the Temple of Victory, two years after he had vowed it" (Livy, xxxv. 9). ALTAR TO AIUS LOQUENS (35).Still standing; was erected 124 B.C., on the site where Camillus had erected the original, in the undetermined state, to the unknown voice that warned Marcus Cedicius of the approaching Gauls, 391 B.C. "In the Via Nova, where now is the shrine, above the Temple of Vesta" (Livy, v. 23). "A voice was heard in the Grove of Vesta, which skirts the Nova Via at the foot of the Palatine" (Cicero, "Div." i. 45). TEMPLE OF JUPITER VICTOR (21).Founded during the second Samnite war by Fabius Maximus (Livy, x. 29)—326–304 B.C.—overlooking the Circus Maximus. The remains consist of tufa substructions, steps leading up to the temple, and some peperino fragments. The circular altar on the steps, found close by, bears an inscription to Calvinus, consul B.C. 53–40. THE HOUSE OF GERMANICUS (10),(See plan, page 81 ) called erroneously by various authorities the House of Claudius Nero, of Livia, of Augustus. It was incorporated into the Imperial Palace by Tiberius, though for very many years it preserved its distinctive title. Josephus tells us that "Caligula was killed in a private narrow passage within the palace as he was going to the bath, having turned from the direct road along which his servants had gone. The passages also were narrow wherein the work was done, and crowded with Caius's attendants, whence it was that they went by other ways, and came to the house of Germanicus, which house adjoined to the palace." A crypto-portico still connects this house with the Palace of Caligula, another going off at right angles to the House of Augustus. We have here a good specimen of a Roman house. In the vestibulum are remains of the mosaic floor and frescoed walls. The atrium still shows the pattern of its pavement. The tricliniarium is ornamented with frescoes of arabesque work, animals and fountains, also with mosaic pavement. The tablinium, in three parallel halls, painted with beautiful arabesque groups; wreaths of flowers and fruit; a group of Galatea and Polyhymnia; another of Mercury, Io, and Argus; a view of a Roman house; a lady at her toilet, &c. Behind these is the peristylium, out of which open the bedrooms, bath, kitchen, &c. In the centre tablinium are some leaden pipes, found in the excavations, stamped with the names of Julia, Domitian, and Niger,—the daughter of Augustus, the emperor, and the insurgent. THE PALACES OF THE CÆSARSgradually incorporated the whole of the Palatine buildings; and when we speak of the Palace of the CÆesars, it is not meant that it was one, but different palaces, built by different emperors, called after them, and connected with those previously erected by crypto-porticoes. THE HOUSE OF AUGUSTUS (18)."He resided in a small house formerly belonging to Hortensius. This was destroyed by fire, and rebuilt by contributions of the public" (Suetonius). The palace was destroyed by fire, under Titus, A.D. 72; the ruins were filled in by Domitian in the second year of his reign, and upon the top he built his celebrated palace. The remains of the Palace of Augustus—not now accessible, being under the convent—were explored and partly excavated some years ago. From the Palace of Domitian (17) we can descend into some of the THE GELOTIANA (32),mentioned by Suetonius as the place from which Caligula viewed the games in the Circus Maximus, is supposed to have been a house occupied by the guard and servants of the palace. Its ruin consists of chambers at the base of the hill, under the convent. It was here that the skit of the Crucifixion, now in the Museum of the Collegio Romano, was found. (See page 160 .) The walls are still covered with names, &c., scratched by the soldiers. THE HOUSE OF TIBERIUS (3).We learn from Suetonius and Tacitus that it was situated on the western side of the Palatine, overlooking and communicating with the Velabrum. The remains consist of vast halls and substructions, and a row of arches supposed to have been the guard's quarters. This palace has yet to be excavated. THE PALACE OF CALIGULA AND HADRIAN (2)."Having continued part of the Palatine as far as the Forum, he converted the Temple of Castor and Pollux into the vestibule of his house." "He built a bridge over the temple of the deified Augustus, by which he joined the Palatine to the Capitol" (Suetonius). He connected his palace with that of Tiberius by means of porticoes. The remains consist of a suite of rooms, portions built over the Clivus VictoriÆ, chambers with fresco and stucco decorations, and mosaic pavements, also a portion of the beautiful marble balustrade of the solarium. Suetonius tells us that this palace was destroyed by fire; in fact, most of the remains show the construction of Hadrian, who must have rebuilt it and used it as his palace. The remains of this palace have been recently uncovered at the northern side of the Palatine. It appears that the palace was built in a series of terraces against the Palatine Hill, the construction showing work of Caligula, Trajan, and Septimius Severus. There are some chambers which were warmed with hot air in terra-cotta pipes, and containing fragments of statuary on the lowest level excavated. Then, on the terrace above, there is an arcade paved with blocks of silex, and on one side shops. A flight of travertine steps conducts to some small chambers above, with mosaic pavements and frescoes, which were built by Hadrian against a wall of Caligula having frescoes on yellow and white grounds. The side walls and vaults are decorated with frescoes of the time of Hadrian. PLAN OF THE PALACE OF DOMITIAN, A.D. 81–96.
View larger image. PLAN OF HOUSE OF GERMANICUS, A.D. 1 THE PALACE OF DOMITIAN (17).He used the remains of Augustus's palace, destroyed by fire in the second year of the reign of Titus, filling in the chambers of the earlier buildings with earth, so that they formed a solid foundation. "He embellished the portico, in which he took his airing, with polished stone, so that he might observe if any one approached him" (Suetonius). The remains consist of the tablinium, or summer-parlour; the lararium, or chapel of the household gods; the bed-chamber where he was assassinated; the tricliniarium, or dining-room; the peristylium, or open court; nymphÆum, or aquarium; the vometarium; auditorium; and the crypto-porticoes connecting it with the other palaces. THE BASILICA (16).When the Palace of Augustus and the other edifices were burned down, Domitian filled them in with earth, and on the top of the platform built his palace. But some of the destroyed edifices were consecrated: as he could not do away with them, he rebuilt them upon the higher level, over their old sites. The basilica and chapel of the household gods were both treated in this way. As this was the only basilica on the Palatine, we may presume that it was the court of appeal unto CÆsar himself. If so, on this site S. Paul appeared before Nero; but not in this identical building, which was erected by Domitian, A.D. 81–96, after Paul's death, A.D. 64. PLAN OF THE BASILICA ON THE PALATINE. The Basilica was the hall of justice, coming from a Greek word signifying "the regal hall." It consisted of a tribunal, nave, and aisles. The form was oblong; the middle was an open space, called testudo, and which we now call the nave. On each side of this were rows of pillars, which formed what we should call the aisles, and which the ancients called porticus. The end of the testudo was curved, and was called the tribunal, from causes being heard there. A rail separating the tribunal from the body of the hall was called cancelli, because it was of open work. Not far from the entrance was a round stone in the pavement, on which the prisoner stood to be tried. Between the judge's seat on the tribunal and the rails stood the altar of Apollo. These halls were likewise used as places of exchange by business men. Being the largest halls the Romans had, the form of them was copied by the early Christians for their churches. The tribunal was called the apse; in some churches it is still called the tribunal. The judge's seat gave place to the bishop's throne; the altar of Apollo to the communion table; the cancelli to the chancel; and the fountain in the court in front to the holy-water basins; and so the name was handed down and given to Christian churches, THE STADIUM (26).On the east side of the Palatine, built by Domitian, and only partly excavated. Used for races both for men and women. "Young girls ran races in the Stadium, at which Domitian presided in his sandals, dressed in a purple robe made after the Grecian fashion, and wearing upon his head a golden crown bearing the effigies of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva; with the flamen of Jupiter and the college of priests sitting at his side in the same dress, excepting only that their crowns had also his own image on them" (Suetonius). The work of excavating the Stadium is not yet completed. It appears that the portico surrounding it originally consisted of cipollino columns, with composite capitals. This was rebuilt in the third century in two tiers, supported with half-columns of brick, coated with slabs of marble, having Ionic bases and Doric capitals. A brick stamp informs us that the Imperial tribune was built in the third consulship of Ursus Servianus, under Hadrian, 134. At the edge of the foot-course, below the portico, was a marble channel to carry off the rain-water. Traces of the spina still remain. The Stadium seems to have been altered into a hippodrome in the time of Diocletian by building elliptical walls upon its surface. The following stamp was found on some of the bricks,—A.D. 500 OFFS R. F. MARCI HIPPODROME THEODORIC REGNANTE DN THEODERICO FELIX ROMA,—evidently some of the repairs ordered by the great king during his six months' visit to Rome. THE EXEDRA, OR ODEUM (27).On the right of the Stadium, for musical performances, with three chambers underneath decorated with fresco work. THE NYMPHÆUM OF MARCUS AURELIUS (30).We claim the honour of having discovered the use of these imposing ruins, whose summit is climbed by many visitors to enjoy the fine view over the Campagna. It was built by the best of the Roman emperors as a large reservoir for the supply of water to the Palatine Hill, acting as the Trevi Fountain does at present. We have traced the specus of the aqueduct to it; and the top is covered The brickwork shows signs of careful construction; the courses of cement carefully laid between the bricks being of the same thickness as the bricks themselves, seven of which measure a foot. The NymphÆum probably took its name from the female statues which decorated it, handing down the custom of the ancient Romans in peopling the springs with nymphs. It is thus mentioned by Marcellinus (xv. vii. 3):—"The Emperor Marcus built the NymphÆum, an edifice of great magnificence, near the well-known Septemzodium," which was built by Septimius Severus at the corner of the Palatine, where slight traces of it remain; it having been destroyed by Pope Sixtus V. The spot now forms a pleasant terrace, from which a splendid prospect of the southern part of ancient Rome, the Campagna, and the distant Alban Hills may be enjoyed. In fact, a vast study is spread, like a map, before the visitor. THE PALACE OF COMMODUS (25, 29)stood on the south-east side of the hill. He constructed a passage from the Palatine to the arena of the Colosseum. He was strangled in his chamber; and his successor, Pertinax, was stabbed in the same palace. This was destroyed by fire, and on the top of the ruins was erected the Palace of Septimius Severus, Caracalla, and Alexander Severus. The remains consist of numerous chambers, corridors, and vaults, still retaining some of their mosaic pavements and stucco roofs, with walls built into them in a very confused manner, showing different alterations. The palace is to be cleared out. THE PALACE OF THE CÆSARS.After the death of Alexander Severus, A.D. 235, we have little or no history of buildings upon the Palatine, and there are no remains the construction of which shows a later date. Indeed the emperors reigned but a short time down to Diocletian, except Gallienus, who, we know, had a palace and gardens on the Esquiline. Fifty years after Alexander Severus died a great blow was struck at the grandeur of Rome; for the colleagues in empire, Diocletian and Maximian, made new capitals at Milan and Nicomedia, and thus divided the seat of power and empire. In A.D. 302, eighteen years after his declaration, Diocletian came to Rome for the first time, to celebrate his triumph, making a short stay of two months. The year 312 ARCH OF TITUS, BEFORE RECENT EXCAVATIONS. In A.D. 500 King Theodoric paid a visit of six months to Rome. After addressing the people from the Rostra ad Palmam, which stands at the head of the Forum, he took up his residence at the Palace of the CÆsars, and appointed officers to take care of the ancient monuments. After his death, Athalaric and his mother governed till the former's death in 534. Theodatus, his successor, was murdered on the Flaminian Way, as he was retreating before Belisarius, the general of the Eastern emperor Justinian, who fixed his quarters at the Pincian Palace. In 549 Totila captured the city, and resided in the Palace of the CÆsars, exhibiting games in the Circus Maximus for the last time. During the winter of 552–553 Narses, the Eastern general, took Rome, and resided there, Rome being again united to the Eastern Empire, governed by an exarch, who generally resided at Ravenna. The history of the Palatine is a blank till the time of Heraclius I. Though not present himself, a coronation ceremony was held with great pomp in the Palace of the CÆsars, 610. A great event for Rome took place in 663. Then, for the last time, she received within her walls her emperor, Constans II., who contemplated again making her the capital of the empire. He was received by Pope Vitalianus at the Porta Appia with a procession of priests with tapers, banners, and crosses,—a curious contrast with former usages. Constans was the last emperor who resided in the Palace of the CÆsars, which was even then in a dilapidated condition; and his time seems to have been occupied with church ceremonies. His visit lasted twelve days, when he carried off what plunder he could, besides Leaving the Palatine, we turn to the right, and by the newly-excavated Vicus VestÆ, on the north side of the hill, reach THE ARCH OF TITUS.On the ridge of the Velia hill, which forms a continuation of the Palatine, and separates the hollow of the Forum from that of the Colosseum, a triumphal arch was erected (though not till after his death and deification) to Titus, the conqueror of Jerusalem. The reliefs, still preserved within the arch, are among the most remarkable of the kind existing in Rome as to the position they occupy in the history of art and of the world. We find here not only the emperor standing in the triumphal chariot in which he advanced to the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, but also the table of the shewbread, and the seven-branched candlestick, borne in this triumphal procession as the most precious spoils of the Jewish temple. BAS-RELIEF ON THE ARCH OF TITUS. "There was a golden table, which weighed many talents; also a golden candlestick, which was constructed upon a different principle from anything in use amongst us now. In the middle was the main Two censers were placed upon the table; in front of the table are two trumpets crossed. (See Exodus xxv. 26). These spoils were deposited by Vespasian in the Temple of Peace. After the sack of Rome, A.D. 455, the Vandal king Genseric carried them to Carthage. Belisarius recovered them, A.D. 535, and took them to Constantinople; and they were transferred from there to the Christian Church in Jerusalem (Procopius, "De Bell. Vand.," i. 5 and ii. 4). Evagrius (iv. 17) relates that when Khosroes, king of Persia, took Jerusalem in 614, they passed into his hands; and all trace of them has been lost since then. It is altogether erroneous to suppose they were thrown into the Tiber. On the opposite side is the Emperor Titus in a chariot drawn by four horses, preceded by Romans wearing laurel wreaths and carrying the fasces. Behind the chariot, Victory is in the act of placing a crown on the emperor's head. The vault is ornamented with square coffers and roses, and in the centre the apotheosis of Titus, in square relief. At this point the Via Sacra was sometimes called the Clivus Palatinus, as it led up to the Palatine, on the right. "Cloelia had her statue in the Via Sacra, as you go up to the Palatine" (Plutarch, in "Publicola"). Passing through the Arch of Titus, On our right are some remains of the Frangipani fortress, a tower of the middle ages; a piece of the second wall of Rome; some substructions and walls, as it were supporting the Palatine Hill; and remains of the Baths and TEMPLE OF THE SUN,"built by Elagabalus, on the slopes of the Palatine, for the worship of the Syro-Phoenician sun-god, which was represented by a black conical stone, set with gems. Elagabalus broke into the Temple of ARCH OF TITUS, WITH THE META SUDANS, AND BASILICÆ OF THE FORUM OF CUPID. The temple was built for the worship of the Sun. Around it was the Lavacrum, or gratuitous baths, A.D. 218–222. The temple was converted in A.D. 800 into the Church of S. Maria, by Pope Leo III. The remains of the altar can be seen at the east end; at the west end is the baptistery, in the form of a Greek cross, with an apse at the top containing the raised platform with the depressed basin of the font in which the person about to be baptized stood, whilst the minister occupied the platform above it and poured the water over his head. On our left is THE FORUM OF CUPID AND ITS BASILICÆ,miscalled the Temple of Venus and Rome. The platform upon which it stands is partly the Velia ridge and partly artificial. When a building was inaugurated after consecration it was called a templum. A delubrum was an isolated building, surrounded with an area, dedicated to religious purposes. This—because it was double, having two aspects, two distinct apses or tribunals—we call, in the plural number, delubra, or the double basilica. The remains consist of two large tribunals, back to back, with a portion of the lateral walls and vaults. The wall in the monastery gardens is apsidal, the other is rectangular. The name of this building is entirely lost. All we know about it is, that it is of the time of Maxentius and Constantine, A.D. 306–337, the construction showing it to be of that time; besides, Nibby found in the walls bricks stamped with the name of Maxentius. Nearly all late authorities have called this ruin the Temple of Venus and Rome. Now, it could not possibly be that temple, for we are told distinctly, as we have related, by Apollodorus, that the Temple of Rome was NOT built on a platform. Again, the Temple of Rome was built by Hadrian, A.D. 118–138, and these remains are of the time of Maxentius and Constantine, A.D. 306–337; besides, Roman temples had no tribunals or apses. These basilicas were surrounded by a colonnade of gray granite, numerous fragments of which still lie about, and there was probably originally a forum or market-place for the sale of fruit and toys. Varro (L. L. 532, R. R. i. 2), Ovid (A. A. ii. 265), Propertius (iii. Festus, who lived in the fourth century, speaks of them under the same name; so we may conclude that the ruins before us are the basilicas of the Forum of Cupid, restored by Maxentius, and dedicated by Constantine. The front of this platform, towards the Colosseum, was discovered in 1828 to have been used during the middle ages as a cemetery, several coffins of terra cotta being exhumed. At the corners are the remains of steps which led from below up to the delubra. Near the left-hand steps, in descending, are the remains of the PEDESTAL OF NERO'S COLOSSUS,which, as we have seen, first stood in the vestibule of his house; then where the atrium was; thence it was removed by Hadrian with twenty-four elephants to this spot, as is shown on a coin of Alexander Severus. It was 120 feet high. Vespasian radiated the head to make it represent the sun; Commodus took off Nero's head, and replaced it with his own. The popular quotation from Bede refers to this Colossus, not to the Colosseum. In a line with Nero's Pedestal is the META SUDANS,the remains of a fountain, erected by Titus, and repaired by Domitian and Gordianus, which stood in the centre of a large circular basin. Popular tradition narrates that the gladiators used to wash here after combat: it is certainly possible, but not very probable, that they would come outside to wash at an open fountain. The epithet Meta Sudans, or "sweating-goal," is supposed to be taken from the perpetual issue of foaming water, or because it contributed to satisfy the thirst of the audience at the Colosseum; or meta, because it was built in the form of a goal, and sudans, because the water trickled out. To the right is THE ARCH OF CONSTANTINE,dedicated by the senate and people of Rome to commemorate the victories of the first Christian emperor, to do which they took reliefs from the Arch of Trajan, and built them into an attic which they erected upon the top of the Arch of Isis, re-dedicating the conglomeration as the Triumphal Arch of Constantine. The reliefs which ARCH OF CONSTANTINE. The designs commence, on the left side, with the triumphal entrance of Trajan by the Porta Capena, after the first Dacian war; then, secondly, commemorate his services in carrying the Appian Way through the Pontine Marshes; thirdly, founding an asylum for orphan children; fourthly, his relations with Parthamasiris, king of Armenia. On the opposite side, dedication of the aqueduct built by Trajan (seen on the left); secondly, audience with the Dacian king Decebalus, whose hired assassins are brought before him; thirdly, with a representation of the emperor haranguing his soldiers; and, fourthly, the emperor offering the suovetaurilia sacrifice of a boar, ram, and bull. Corresponding with these reliefs, two medallions, representing the private life of the emperor in simple and graceful compositions, are introduced over each of the side arches. The first represents his starting for the chase; the second, a sacrifice to Silvanus, the patron of silvan sports; the third displays the emperor on horseback at a bear-hunt; and the fourth a thank-offering to the goddess of hunting. On the side facing the Colosseum, a bear-hunt, a sacrifice to Apollo, a group contemplating a dead lion, and lastly a consultation of an oracle. Most of these refer to Trajan; we think some refer to Hadrian, because on one of them AntinoÜs is represented. On the inside of the arch is a battle-piece, assigned to Constantine by the inscriptions, "To the founder of peace," "To the deliverer of the city." They are older than his time. Over the side arches are some narrow reliefs referring to Constantine, one of which is peculiarly interesting, as it represents that emperor addressing the people from the Rostra ad Palmam, with some of the principal monuments in the Forum in the background. THE COLOSSEUM."A noble wreck in ruinous perfection."—Byron. The vast amphitheatre erected in the centre of ancient Rome by Vespasian was known to the ancient Romans as the Flavian Amphitheatre. It was begun by the Flavian emperors A.D. 72, and dedicated A.D. 80. It is 157 feet high, and is 1900 feet in circumference, and was built by the captive Jews after the fall of Jerusalem. Originally the upper story was of wood, but this was burned down, and it was rebuilt with travertine stone like the rest of the edifice. Martial Suetonius ("Vespasian," vii.), says, "He began an amphitheatre in the middle of the city, upon finding that Augustus had projected such a work." Ibid. ("Titus," vi.): "He entertained the people with most magnificent spectacles, and in one day brought into the amphitheatre five thousand wild beasts of all kinds." The last display was given by Theodoric in 523; and in 555 the lower part was destroyed by a flood from the Tiber, when the whole of Rome was under water for seven days. From then we must date the ruin of the Flavian Amphitheatre—the Romans themselves hastening on the work, using the material for building purposes. "Which on its public shows unpeopled Rome, And held uncrowded nations in its womb."—Juvenal. It is held by the Roman Church, on the authority of an inscription found in the Catacombs, that the architect of the Colosseum was one Gaudentius; but that inscription only says that he was employed there. We believe the architect to have been Aterius, whose monument is now in the Lateran, and upon which several buildings are represented of which he was no doubt the architect, also the machine used to raise the stones into their places. He flourished at the end of the first century, and, no doubt, these buildings shown in relief upon his tomb were erected by him, the dates agreeing; for if not, why should they be there represented? First, we have an arch which says on it, "Arcus ad Isis." Now if we compare this with the Arch of Constantine, we find it is the same When perfect, the Colosseum consisted of four stories—the lowest, of the Doric order, 30 feet high; the second, Ionic, 38 feet high; the third, Corinthian, about the same height; and the fourth, also Corinthian, 44 feet high. The holes in the cornice with the corbels below them were to receive the masts that supported the velaria on the outside. The numerous holes in the stone were made in the middle ages for the purpose of extracting the iron cramps that kept the stones from shifting. The long diameter is 658 feet, the shorter 558 feet; the arena is 298 feet by 177 in its widest part. The last performance was a bull-fight, held at the expense of the Roman nobles, in the year 1332. Many martyrs are said to have perished in the Colosseum during the persecutions of the early Christians, and among others S. Ignatius, who was brought from Antioch to be devoured by wild beasts. Benedict XIV. consecrated the building to the Christian martyrs, A.D. 1750. In excavating the Basilica of S. Clement, the Rev. Father Mullooly found (1870) the remains of S. Ignatius, and had them carried with great ceremony over the scene on the anniversary of his martyrdom. At the present day there remains sufficient to indicate the construction of the building, though but a small portion of the immense outer shell, which originally both adorned and formed an impenetrable girdle round the whole, has been preserved. In the interior, a great deal of rebuilding has been necessary for its preservation. Vast as the building is, its construction is easily understood; a simple segment of the whole serving to show how all the others succeed one another like the cells of a bee-hive. THE COLOSSEUM. The upper part was originally of wood only, and was burned, having been set on fire by lightning. The three lower stories only are of the time of the Flavian emperors; the upper story was rebuilt and added in the third century, and only finished in the time of the The area, basement, or ground-floor, was flooded for the naval fights. Surrounding this were the dens, in front of which was a channel for fresh water for supplying the animals with drink—a spring still supplies it; about ten feet above was the movable stage, sprinkled with sand for the combats, and hence called the arena. A few feet above the arena was the podium, or seat of the emperor, vestal virgins, &c., protected from the arena by iron bars. Behind the podium was a double portico, which ran round the whole building. Fragments of the marble chimeras, with long wings, that ornamented the seats of the podium have been found. The three successive tiers were called cavea. Above these was a tier for the people; above this one for the "gods;" thus making six in all. The amphitheatre seated eighty-seven thousand people, and there was standing room for thirteen thousand more. The walls standing upon the area, composed of tufa, travertine, and brick, old material re-used, were built at a period long after the building was dedicated, when the naval fights being abandoned there was no longer any occasion for a movable stage or arena as before. They contained the machinery for the stage above, and for the lifts or pegmata to send men or beasts from the area to the arena. Probably these are the walls thus alluded to by Dion Cassius: "He [Commodus] divided the theatre into four parts by two partitions that cut through diametrically, and by right angles, to the end that from the galleries that were round about he might with greater ease single out the beasts he aimed at." PLAN OF THE EXCAVATIONS BELOW THE ARENA OF THE COLOSSEUM. "The emperor having employed himself in shooting from above ... descended afterwards to the bottom of the theatre, and there slew some other private beasts, whereof some made toward him, others were brought to him, and others were shut up in dens. Returning after dinner, he used the exercises of a gladiator, with a shield in his right hand, and in his left a wooden sword. After him fought those whom he had chosen in the morning at the bottom of The walls before us are of very bad construction, evidently repairs of a late date: they are the work of either Lampridius, prefect of Rome under Valentinian III., 425–455, who repaired the steps and renewed the arena; or of Basilius, who restored the podium and arena after their destruction by an earthquake in 486—this we learn from two inscriptions standing at the entrance. Half way, on each side, two large passages have been discovered choked up with mud: they were the aqueducts to bring the water for the naumachiÆ from the reservoirs upon the Esquiline and CÆlian Hills respectively; from the small openings in the blind arches the water also poured out over the top of the dens, thus forming cascades all round. At the end opposite the present entrance a long passage has been opened, above the level of the area floor; below this passage is the great drain, with the remains of the iron grating[6] to prevent large objects going down: this and the passage were closed by flood-gates on naval representations, which can be clearly seen in the construction. On the right and left of this passage, connected with it, but at a lower level, two dens have been cleared out, 27 yards long by 5 wide, containing six holes in the floor, in the centre of square blocks of stone, and these holes are faced with bronze, evidently the sockets into which metal posts were fixed to which the beasts were chained. On the fragments depicting scenes from the arena, the animals are shown with a long piece of rope or chain dangling from their necks, which seems to bear out our idea that they were attached to posts fixed in these sockets, and that as they were wanted the chain or rope was cut, and they were free to rush upon the arena. The corbels round the front of the line of arches under the podium are in pairs, and between them the masts were inserted to support the awning on the inside, as the holes and corbels supported the masts on the outside; for we find on examination that those inside are exactly in a line with those outside at the top of the building. These corbels are 29 inches deep, and from them to the level of the area is 10 feet, and to the present surface 11 feet; between each pair of corbels are chases 19½ inches wide, ending on a block of travertine for the masts to rest on, the chases coming down 1½ yards below the corbels, which are 15 feet apart. They probably helped to In the central passage, resting on the area and extending as far as the excavations, is an ancient wooden framework in a decomposed state. Various suggestions have been made as to its use,—we suppose it to be the framework and joists of the flooring covering the central passage; others, a sort of tramway for running the cages along,—but till the whole space has been cleared out it is impossible to arrive at a correct estimate of its use. Honorius, A.D. 404, having abolished the gladiatorial combats, probably the last display of wild beasts was that given by King Theodoric at the beginning of the sixth century. The soil cleared out in the passage, dens, galleries, and area was found to be composed of mud deposited during a flood or floods by the Tiber, the composition of which may still be seen in parts of the long passage not yet cleared. The most remarkable of these floods, which lasted some days and did immense damage to the city, were those of A.D. 555, 590, 725, 778, 1476, 1530, 1557, and 1598. We may presume, from the nature of the soil, that at some early date, probably A.D. 555, one of those terrible floods reached the Colosseum, and on the waters retiring a great deposit of mud was left, covering the old area floor and filling up the various passages and galleries, and that the authorities, instead of clearing out this deposit, added to it to make a solid floor, and used the arena above; for after that date we have no record of its being used, with the exception of the bull-fight. By applying to the custodian, the visitor can ascend to the top, where a most magnificent view is enjoyed, the only way to get a good idea of its size and oval shape, and where the construction of the upper galleries can be studied. It will be seen that the arches forming the tiers of seats have at some date been filled in with brickwork, of the time of Alexander Severus and the Gordiani. The water-courses for keeping the building cool in hot weather can also be traced. The highest wall of all, the inside brick casing of which is partly gone, is built of fragments evidently not originally intended for the purpose for which they are used, corresponding to a great extent with the construction of the walls upon the area. The Colosseum was for a long time used as a quarry, from which several of the palaces in Rome were built. Should the visitor be fortunate enough to see the ruin under moonlight, or when it is illuminated with Bengal lights, he will see it in its grandeur, for "it will not bear the brightness of the day." SECTION OF SEATS AND ARCHES OF THE COLOSSEUM. |
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