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THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA 
 IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
a a eee a SE 
 
| HE ROMAN CAMPAGNA 
 iN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 Sy THOMAS ASHBY, D.Lirr. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 1927 | 
 
PREFACE 
 
 mention his predecessors in this field of explora- 
 
 tion: and it is easy to do it, for they are few in 
 comparison with the numerous scholars who have busied 
 themselves with the topography of Rome. 
 _ An extraordinarily fine map of the Campagna was 
 published anonymously in 1547 by one Eufrosino della 
 Volpaia, and was followed the next year by a book by 
 Domenico Boccamazza, who had been the chief huntsman 
 of Pope Leo X, describing the Campagna from the sports- 
 man’s point of view, which bears an astonishingly close 
 relation to it. Only one copy of it was known to exist 
 (I understand that another has recently been found at 
 Breslau),! but it served as the unacknowledged model for 
 all subsequent maps for over a century. 
 
 From that curious genius Pirro Ligorio—so much of 
 whose good work is spoilt by his ineradicable tendency 
 to make the truth still more picturesque by mixing it 
 up with falsehood—a certain amount of information may 
 be obtained: but the first investigator of the Campagna 
 who really counts is the Danish priest Lucas Holste, the 
 friend of Cardinal Antonio Barberini, who died in 1661 
 and who knew it as no one did before and as few have 
 known it since. Unluckily neither he nor Raphael Fabretti 
 of Urbino, the explorer of the aqueducts, was able to 
 publish his results in full; and while we have an anno- 
 tated copy of Cluver’s Italia Antiqua and a few maps 
 (all now in the Barberini Library at the Vatican) from 
 the former’s hand, from the latter we have nothing but 
 his three published works—the De Aquaeductibus (1680, 
 
 1 See p. 12. 
 
 H: WOULD BE INDEED UNGRATEFUL who did not 
 
 5 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 and the Inscriptiones, and a curious controversial work 
 directed against Gronovius. In the meantime, the survey 
 of the various farms of the Campagna, carried out by 
 the order of Pope Alexander VII, had rendered the forma- 
 tion of other maps possible; and the Jesuit Eschinardi, 
 with the help of the surveyor Cingolani, incorporated the 
 results in a new map, to which he wrote an important 
 but brief text. Another explorer of whose work but 
 little is left is the Spaniard Diego Revillas, who, like 
 Fabretti, was much interested in the territory of Tivoli, 
 the upper Anio valley and the aqueducts, but published 
 nothing beyond two maps. 
 
 All these men are absolutely trustworthy—which is 
 more than can be said for two other Jesuits, Kircher and 
 Volpi, though in both there is wheat among the chaff. 
 We have thus arrived at the first half of the eighteenth 
 century: and we have to wait till the early years of the 
 nineteenth—for the work of men like Gavin Hamilton and 
 Thomas Jenkins was devoted only to the discovery of 
 works of art—before, with Sir William Gell and Antonio 
 Nibby, a new map of the Campagna was formed. The 
 triangulation was the work of Gell, while both explored | 
 and studied the whole district—with what thoroughness 
 is clear both from their published works and from their 
 notebooks, which I have the good fortune to possess. 
 At the same time the German J. H. Westphal was also 
 making a fairly thorough exploration, but was unable to 
 return to complete it: while Canina’s various works are 
 of a certain value but are often inaccurate in details. 
 After them, again, there is a long interval—and indeed, 
 until we come to the modern works of Tomassetti and 
 Lanciani there is little of importance to record. To the 
 latter and to my father (the best of companions while he 
 lived) I owe my first introduction to the delights of the 
 exploration of the Campagna; and to our mutual friends, 
 the Misses Bulwer and the Rev. Father P. P. Mackey, 
 O.P.—the latter an untiring investigator of its remotest 
 corners—a number of the photographs which illustrate 
 the present work are due. A younger pupil of Professor 
 6 : 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Lanciani’s, Professor Giuseppe Lugli, has done much good 
 work on the Campagna of recent years, and is now in 
 charge of the Italian Archaeological Survey of the district, 
 the first portion of which, dealing with Terracina and its 
 neighbourhood, has just appeared. 
 
 _ In my own descriptions and maps I have done my 
 best to register all I could, and to them I must refer 
 those of my readers who desire further information on 
 points of detail. 
 
 Nor should I forget to mention the artists whose sketches 
 and drawings may help us to realise the spirit of the 
 Campagna. I have said that its charm defies description : 
 but Claude, J. R. Cozens, and Turner—to name no more-—— 
 may be taken as representatives of the many artists who 
 have sought inspiration from it: and, by good fortune, 
 attention has recently been called to their work by the 
 publication of a well-illustrated volume dealing with each 
 of them. 
 
 Finally, to my wife I owe much help, and to her I 
 gratefully dedicate this book. 
 
 THOMAS ASHBY 
 _ May 1927 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PREFACE . : ‘ : : ; ‘ ; , : : : ‘ 5 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS j : ‘ ‘ ‘ ; ‘ ‘ 10° 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE ‘ : : ‘ ‘ . : > ‘ 12, 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION . ; ; : 4 4 ; z i 15 
 
 The roads which radiate from Rome may, for our present 
 purpose, be divided into the following groups, beginning 
 on the left bank of the Tiber and working southwards) 
 (clockwise) : : 
 
 I 
 
 THE ROADS LEADING TO THE SABINE COUNTRY 
 AND THE APENNINES 
 
 FAGR 
 PRELIMINARY NOTE ‘ ; ‘ ; : F ; . 57 
 I. THE VIA SALARIA . ; : : ; ‘ ‘ : ; 59 
 II. THE VIA NOMENTANA . ; : ; ; : : 4 82 
 II. THE VIA TIBURTINA . : é ; a : - 98 
 
 II 
 
 THE ROADS LEADING TO THE ALBAN HILLS 
 AND THE SOUTH-EAST 
 
 PRELIMINARY NOTE ies : ‘ P . . ;. oe 
 
 IV. THE VIA PRAENESTINA. , : 5 ; ‘ : - 128 
 Iva. THE VIA COLLATINA , : : ‘ ‘ " ; - 148 
 V. THE VIA LABICANA : h . ‘ ‘ : ‘ . 146 
 VI. THE VIA LATINA . ; ; : : : 4 . - 158 
 Vil. THE VIA APPIA (WITH THE VIA ANTIATINA) . . . 174 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 VIII. 
 
 =X. 
 
 XI. 
 
 XII. 
 
 III 
 THE ROADS LEADING TO THE SEA-COAST 
 
 PRELIMINARY NOTE ° ° 
 THE VIA ARDEATINA, THE ROAD TO SATRICUM, AND THE 
 VIA LAURENTINA 
 
 THE VIA OSTIENSIS (WITH THE VIA CAMPANA AND THE 
 VIA PORTUENSIS) 
 
 IV 
 THE ROADS LEADING INTO ETRURIA 
 
 PRELIMINARY NOTE 
 THE VIA AURELIA . ° 
 THE VIA CLODIA AND THE VIA CASSIA 
 
 V 
 THE ROADS LEADING TO THE NORTH 
 
 PRELIMINARY NOTE 
 THE VIA FLAMINIA AND THE VIA TIBERINA 
 
 INDEX 
 
 PAGE 
 205 
 
 207 
 
 214 
 
 223 
 225 
 231 
 
 245 
 24:7 
 
 253 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 ig A et ieee sense AR NSF 
 
 Rm bb bd bh WD ODD ODD ODD eee 
 SBXSaesSPkSsnraaneanns 
 
 ho 
 os 
 
 FIDENAE FROM THE VILLA OF LIVIA (67) . 
 GROTTE TORRI (79) . 
 
 SULPHUR LAKE NEAR BAGNI (99) 
 
 THE LARGER BATHS, HADRIAN’S VILLA (108) 
 VIADUCT NEAR HADRIAN’S VILLA (111) 
 VILLAGE OF S. VITTORINO (111) . 
 
 TEMPLES AT TIVOLI (1138) 
 
 NYMPHAEUM UNDER 8. ANTONIO, TIVOLI (114). 
 
 PLATFORM OF VILLA, COLLE VITRIANO (116) 
 TERRACE WALL OF VILLA OF BRUTUS (?) (121) 
 REMAINS OF VILLA OF THE GORDIANI (130) 
 TEMPLE AT GABII (134) . 
 
 PONTE DI NONA (182) 
 
 OSA STREAM AND ALBAN HILLS (133) . 
 
 VIA PRAENESTINA (136) . 
 
 HUTS AT GABII (135) 
 
 CORCOLLE (137) 
 
 PASSERANO (137) 
 
 PONTE S. ANTONIO (1387) 
 
 PONTE AMATO (1388) 
 
 CASTEL S. PIETRO (139). 
 
 QUARRIES, CERVARA (143) 
 
 LUNGHEZZA (145) 
 
 SETTE BASSI (157) . 
 
 CENTRONI (159) . 
 
 VILLA OF THE QUINTILII (185) 
 
 VIA APPIA AND ALBAN HILLS (187) 
 CIRCUS, BOVILLAE (190) . 
 
 PALAZZOLA (192) 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 67 
 
 67 
 99 
 99 
 111 
 111 
 113 
 1138 
 116 
 116 
 - 1380 
 - 1380 
 1382 
 132 
 135 
 185 
 137 
 137 
 138 
 138 
 139 
 139 
 145 
 145 
 . 159 
 159 
 - 187 
 - 489 
 - 192 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 ARIccIA (194) .. - ; . ‘ Pane ; . 192 
 EMBANKMENT OF VIA APPIA BELOW ARICCIA (196) . . 196 
 LAKE OF NEMI (197). : : , ‘ ; : . 196 
 LAVINIUM (THE MODERN PRATICA) (212) . : : -f eh 
 ARDEA (212) . ; : ‘ : ; : : : , 212 
 WALLS OF ARDEA (212) . : : é : : ‘ . 218 
 COAST AT ANZIO (213) . : ; ‘ ; : : . 213 
 CASTLE, OSTIA (214) ‘ . : ‘ ‘ : : . 214 
 PALAESTRA OF BATHS, OSTIA (216) . . - - + 214 
 CAPITOLIUM AND DECUMANUS, OSTIA (216) ‘ : . 216 
 RIVER NUMICUS (217) . ‘ ; 7 ; : : . 216 
 CASTEL FUSANO (217) . : ‘ , ; ‘ , o)) ae 
 ARCO DI NOSTRA DONNA, PORTO (218) d ; , 4 DeLee 
 ‘¢PEMPLE OF PORTUNUS,” PORTO (218) . : ‘ . 219 
 FLOODS NEAR PONTE GALERA (219) . : ‘ , ~ 219 
 TOMB ON VIA VEIENTANA (2382) . ‘ : : ‘ . 282 
 GALERA, CHURCH AT (234) . , ; : : : . 282 
 PRIMA PORTA (248) . ; : : ‘ ‘ ‘ : . 248 
 QUARRIES NEAR GROTTA OSCURA (249) : ° , . 248 
 MAP SHOWING ANCIENT ROMAN ROADS ~ tt gene ae eae 
 
 Norr.—Figs. 1, 6, 13, 15, and 20 are from photographs by Mr. G. R. Swain, 
 
 Photographer of the Near East Expedition of the University of Michigan ; 
 Figs. 3,9, 11, 14, 21, 25, 29, 30, 32, 36, 37, 41, and 46 are from photographs 
 by Miss D. E. Bulwer; Figs. 12 and 28 are from photographs by the Rev. 
 Father P. P. Mackey, O.P.; Fig. 4 is from a photograph by Anderson, of 
 Rome. To all of these my best thanks are due. The rest are from my own 
 photographs. _ Figs. 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, and 24 have already appeared in the 
 nes of the British School at Rome, and Fig. 47 in the Journal of Roman 
 tudies. 
 
 ll 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 (In Chronological Order) 
 
 Mappa della Campagna Romana del 1547 di Eufrosino della Volpaia, 
 riprodotio dal? unico esemplare esistente nella Biblioteca Vati- 
 cana, con introduzione di Thomas Ashby (Roma, 1914). 
 
 The Breslau copy of the map of Eufrosino della Volpaia is described’ 
 by Ruge in Gottingische Nachrichten, 1916. Beiheft, p. 32, 
 No. 385. It is in the Stadtbibliothek (Gb. 158). 
 
 For Pirro Ligorio, see Journal of Roman Studies, ix. (1919) 170 sqq. 
 
 Holste’s notes were posthumously published under the title of 
 Annotationes ad Cluverium in 1666. 
 
 Kircuer, A. Latium (Amsterdam, 1671). 
 
 FABRETTI, R. 
 De Aquis et Aquaeductibus, ed. i, Rome, 1680; ed. ii, Rome, 1788. 
 Ad J. Gronovium apologema. Naples, 1686. 
 Inscriptiones antiquae. Rome, 1699. 
 
 EscHINARDI, F. 
 Espositione della Carta Cingolana dell? Agro Romano, ed. i, 
 Rome, 1696 ; ed. ii (revised by R. Venuti), Rome, 1750. 
 
 CORRADINI and Votri. Vetus Latium. 10 vols. (Rome, 1704-45). 
 WESTPHAL, J. H. Rdmische Kampagne (Berlin and Stettin, 1829). 
 
 GELL, Sir W. The Topography of Rome and its Vicinity. Ed. i 
 in 2 vols., London, 1884; ed. ii in 1 vol., London, 1846 
 (revised by Bunbury). 
 
 Nissy, A. Analisi della carta det Dintorni di Roma, 3 vols. (Rome, 
 1837 ; the 2nd edition of 1848-9 is a mere reprint.) 
 
 ToMASSETTI, G. and F. La Campagna Romana Antica, Medioevale | 
 e moderna, 4 vols. (Rome, 1910—in progress.) 
 This is a more comprehensive reissue of an earlier work 
 (La Campagna Romana nel Medio Evo, published in the 
 Archivio della Societa Romana di Storia Patria, 1879-1907 
 and separately), but does not entirely supersede it. 
 12 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 LANCIANI, R. Wanderings in the Roman Campagna (London, 1909), 
 and many special articles. 
 
 Lucu, G. Various articles in the Bulletiino Comunale from 1914 
 onwards on the villas of the Alban Hills (especially that of 
 Domitian) and on the Imperial villas in the neighbourhood 
 of Rome. The Castra Albana are dealt with in two articles 
 in Ausonia, and the Via Triumphalis (on the Alban Mount) 
 in Memorie dell? Accademia Pontificia, i. 1. 251 sqq. 
 
 My own Classical Topography of the Roman Campagna? comprises : 
 
 I. The Viae Collatina, Praenestina, and Labicana. 
 (Papers of the British School at Rome, i. 121 sqq.) 
 
 Il. The Viae Salaria, Nomentana, and Tiburtina ? (<b., iii. 1 sqq.). 
 
 IlI. The Via Latina (ib., iv. 1 sqq.; v. 213 sqq.). 
 
 The Via Flaminia (with Mr. R. A. L. Fell) in Journal 
 of Roman Studies, xi. 125 sqq., and the Via Tiberina 
 in Memorie dell’? Accademia Pontificia, i. 2. 129 sqq., 
 while notes on detailed points connected with the 
 Via Clodia and the Via Salaria have appeared in 
 Rémische Mitteilungen, xxii. 311 sqq., xxvii. 221 sqq. 
 
 For the aqueducts see my articles in the Builder, xciv. (1908, i.) 
 and Neue Jahrbiicher, xxiii. (1909), 246 sqq.; a full list of 
 remains, with their levels, and maps showing their exact 
 position, will be found in Reina Corbellini and Ducci’s 
 Livellazione degli Antichi Acquedotti Romani (Rome, 1917). 
 
 Mr. Bradshaw’s restoration of Praeneste will be found in Papers, 
 cit., ix. 233 sqq. 
 
 For the drawings of Claude Lorrain, see Professor A. M. Hind’s 
 
 volume (1925) ; for Cozens, Drawings by John Robert Cozens 
 
 ' (Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1923) ; and for Turner, my own 
 volume, Turner’s Visions of Rome (1925). 
 
 For Hadrian’s Villa see Winnefeld, H., Die Villa des Hadrian 
 (Berlin, 1895). 
 
 1 I am indebted to the Faculty of Archaeology, History, and 
 Letters for permission to reproduce portions of these papers and 
 some of the illustrations which appeared in them. 
 
 2 A revised translation of the Via Tiburtina is appearing in the 
 Alli e Memorie della Societa Tiburtina di Storia e d Arte (1922 sqq:)s 
 in the first volume of which (1921) will also be found a translation 
 of an article on Horace’s Villa at Tivoli, by G. H. Hallam and 
 myself, originally published in the Journal of Roman Studies 
 (iv. 121 sqq.). 
 
 13 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA 
 IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION} 
 
 possesses a peculiar fascination, and creates in 
 
 oneself a feeling, elusive when one attempts to 
 define it in words, and not capable indeed—as 1s the case 
 with all our higher and most intimate emotions—of being 
 reduced to precise terms. There it is, however, none the 
 less, and I do not wish to imagine that any of my readers 
 have not many times felt that indefinite, yet strong desire 
 for it which comes to one far away. ‘“ They change their 
 skies above them, but not their hearts, that roam,” says 
 the modern poet, translating in an ideal way the well- 
 known line of Horace.? He, too, has written that splendid 
 poem of the sea and the hills— 
 
 "Tv CAMPAGNA DI ROMA is a district which certainly 
 
 Who hath desired the Sea? Her excellent loneliness rather 
 
 Than forecourts of kings, and her outermost pits than the 
 streets where men gather 
 
 Inland among dust under trees—inland where the slayer may 
 slay him— 
 
 Inland, out of reach of her arms, and the bosom whereon 
 he must lay him— 
 
 His Sea at the first that betrayed—at the last that shall never 
 betray him 
 
 His Sea that his being fulfils ? 
 
 So and no otherwise—so and no otherwise hillmen desire 
 
 their hills. 
 
 1 Portions of this introduction have appeared in the Builder, and 
 others are included in the article on Latium in the 11th edition of 
 the Encyclopaedia Britannica: they are reproduced here with the 
 permission of the respective editors, which I gratefully acknowledge. 
 
 2 Coelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt. 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 The hills and the sea have excited men’s imagination 
 from the first. And, perhaps, part of the secret is, that 
 here we have many of the characteristics of both. The 
 hills, when one is not actually among them, stand round 
 and form a background to almost every view in the lower — 
 Campagna: while this, seen from the Alban or Sabine 
 Hills, is almost indistinguishable at times from the sea — 
 by which it is bounded: in certain lights the sun will for — 
 a moment make us mistake the position of the long, low 
 coastline, one of the most desolate in Europe. 
 
 But that which seems from above to be as flat as a sea 
 becalmed, proves, when one descends, to be furrowed in 
 all directions by valleys great and small, deep and shallow. 
 The volcanic rock lends itself to erosion: so that the 
 general level of the hill-tops is fairly uniform, or rises and 
 falls gradually, but unless one happens to be moving along 
 a ridge, one’s course is continually up and down. And ~ 
 this, too, has something of the sea—of a sea once in motion, 
 but now as it were frozen, preserving still its infinite 
 variety ; one hill, like one wave, is never quite the same 
 as the next. There is, too, a great impression of vastness 
 in the landscape of the Campagna—whether we look to the 
 low hills stretching to the sea as far as the eye can reach, 
 or to the great mountains on the other side rising far © 
 away. “% 
 
 The sea itself, on the other hand, has little to do with ~ 
 our impressions of the Campagna: we see it in the dis- 
 tance from the hills, but except in the actual coast-strip — 
 we should hardly be able to guess, if we did not know, 
 that it was, after all, so near. The coastline is low and © 
 monotonous, and very sparsely populated: and we do — 
 not see the flocks of sea-birds coming inland at the approach ~ 
 of stormy weather, nor hear the scream of the gulls, nor — 
 smell the salt breezes in the way that we do in the vicinity — 
 of northern seas. The sea has played, and plays still, a 
 singularly small part in the life of Rome: it is a mere truism 
 to say that to the average Roman, though it is far less 
 distant, it must be far less familiar than to the average — 
 Londoner or Parisian. 4 
 16 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 But there are other elements in the charm of the Cam- 
 pagna—the contrast between the life of the past and the 
 almost overwhelming solitude that reigns in the present ; 
 we think first of the little village communities that once 
 were formidable rivals to Rome herself, which in Strabo’s 
 time even had become mere villages, the property of 
 private individuals, so that we can hardly fix their sites 
 —one of Sir William Gell’s correspondents speaks of his 
 search for ‘the lost and mislaid cities of Latium’+; then 
 we think of the free yeoman farmers who fought and died 
 for the glory of the Republic and laid the foundations of 
 her rapidly growing power. But when they died out the 
 prosperity of the Campagna suffered a fatal blow: it 
 fell into the hands of a few large proprietors and was 
 cultivated by gangs of slaves: economically and from 
 the point of view of public security we may compare its 
 condition then with that of one hundred or two hundred 
 years ago. 
 
 Country houses in the neighbourhood of Rome hardly 
 came into vogue before the second century 3B.c. But 
 the fashion spread rapidly, and no doubt contributed 
 in no small measure to the well-being of the Campagna, 
 which was naturally benefited by the great revival of 
 prosperity under the Empire, and especially in the times 
 of Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, when all Italy 
 seems to have flourished as never before, until the long 
 and gradual decadence and depopulation, which, as 
 Professor Tomassetti has shown, reached its climax in 
 days far nearer to our own than we are accustomed to 
 think. 
 
 All these memories crowd in upon us, and are brought 
 
 more vividly to us by the ruins that we see, picturesque 
 in their decay, serving often as shelter to the shepherds 
 who come from the mountains with their flocks in the 
 winter, and whose huts and sheepskin clothes must be 
 
 1 Letter of Elphinstone to Gell, Aug. 6, 1835, among some letters 
 deposited by Mr. Craven in the Department of Greek and Roman 
 Antiquities at the British Museum. 
 
 2 Builder, LXX XVII (1905) i. 31. 
 
 B 1% 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 much the same as those of two thousand five hundred 
 years ago. a ; 
 And then the Campagna itself has so much variety, — 
 besides natural beauties of a rare order: the change of — 
 the landscape with the rising and setting of the sun, or 
 the varying moods which it assumes with the changes” 
 of the weather—here especially rapid and difficult to fore- 
 cast—add a charm to every hour. j 
 In one’s less sternly moral moments one even acquires — 
 the feeling that every fine day spent indoors, with the 
 Campagna so close, is in a sense wasted. And has not 
 Stevenson written a most effective apology for idlers in — 
 which he puts their case very convincingly ? : 
 The Roman Campagna is a district in many respects | 
 unique. Most large capitals are surrounded by suburbs, 
 residential, industrial, and so forth, which extend for 
 several miles beyond the city proper. But Rome, for — 
 many reasons, forms an exception to the general rule. 
 The choice of its site, commanding the only permanent ~ 
 crossing of the Lower Tiber, seems to have been largely — 
 dictated by commercial considerations, though in those ; 
 early days a strong position was naturally selected: and ~ 
 this the Palatine, which was certainly the nucleus of the 
 city, offered in a pre-eminent degree. What the ravines — 
 were like which once protected it we may see better at — 
 Veii (in the Cremera valley, for example) than in Rome ~ 
 itself, where there has been so much filling up and levelling ~ 
 down. But from early times the importance of Rome ~ 
 was mainly that of a ruling city and not of an emporium, ~ 
 though it was that incidentally, inasmuch as the accumu- 
 lation of wealth led to the growth of luxury: while 
 under the Empire the population of Rome consisted of © 
 the wealthy, of the functionaries of government, of a 
 proletariat which toiled not but was fed by its rulers, — 
 and of numerous slaves. In those days, of course, the © 
 Campagna was covered with dwellings, but apparently | 
 rather with the country residences of the well-to-do, with 
 the parks and gardens attached to them, than with the ~ 
 houses of the poor: the early villages had to a very 
 18 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 considerable extent disappeared, and except on the 
 higher roads, where some of them lived on as post-stations, 
 they had not been replaced by others. So that even then 
 there were, one may say, no true suburbs. 
 
 Well before the imperial period the malaria! had, as 
 we shall see, begun to make its appearance in certain 
 districts, and after the fall of the Empire it no doubt 
 became worse; but it would seem that its effect in the 
 early Middle Ages has been somewhat exaggerated, and 
 that the period of its greatest virulence is far more recent. 
 But other causes co-operated to reduce the number of 
 the inhabitants of the city of Rome, so that until quite 
 recent years the circuit of the Aurelian walls enclosed an 
 extent of ground much larger than was required for the 
 actual dwellings of the population, and a considerable 
 portion of this space was occupied by gardens and culti- 
 vated areas. When Rome became the capital of the 
 Italian kingdom, the population soon rose from a quarter 
 to half a million: but the financial crisis of 1890 put a 
 stop for a time to all development, and it is only in the 
 last few years that growth has begun once more, so much 
 so that the population is now well over three-quarters of a 
 million, and is still on the increase. Now, the city is 
 spreading rapidly on every side beyond the walls: and, 
 except for the quarter along the Via Appia and on the 
 Aventine and Caelian, we have already lost most of the 
 picturesqueness of the narrow lanes shut in by high walls, 
 of the vineyards and gardens still within the city, of 
 churches half-forgotten which seemed in their peaceful 
 repose so far from the bustle and noise of the town. 
 Whatever the necessities of modern life may be, and—to 
 touch on a still more delicate point—whatever visitors 
 or even foreign residents in Rome may have to say on 
 the various questions of street improvements, demoli- 
 tions, etc. (which, in one sense, are primarily the affair of 
 the inhabitants of Rome), there is no doubt that the 
 ‘mediaeval feeling, which, to many lovers of Rome, was 
 
 1 W. H. S. Jones, in Malaria in Ancient Times, thinks that it had 
 not even reached Latium as early as 400 B.c. 
 
 19 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 not the least of its attractions, is disappearing fast. That 
 this is in large measure inevitable, and that similar pro- 
 cesses occur elsewhere, is true: but Rome occupies a 
 unique position. It is not, and perhaps never will 
 become, a manufacturing or commercial city, or a business — 
 centre of the first rank: it is as the seat of Government 
 even more than as a resort of foreign residents and tourists — 
 that it has grown to its present size, and is still growing, 
 faster perhaps than any city in the world—and yet the- 
 supply of houses is still unequal to the demand. 4 
 
 The Campagna Romana thus remains almost unspoilt, 
 and there is no city which one can so quickly and easily 
 leave behind as Rome. At an hour’s distance on foot” 
 from almost any of its gates one may plunge into a soli- 
 tude surprisingly profound, and forget completely that 
 not far from a million of one’s fellow-men live at so short 
 a distance away. The greater part of the Campagna is 
 pasture-land, and that which is under cultivation is very 
 largely cornland, so that the population at any time of 
 year is extremely small in proportion to the area, while 
 in summer it is reduced to a minimum. 
 
 This state of things, which has gone on so long, will 
 not continue very much longer, and signs of change are 
 everywhere apparent. The law in regard to the so-called 
 Bonifica, or improvement of the agricultural conditions 
 of the Campagna, on which we shall touch later, and the 
 successful war against malaria are producing considerable 
 results. Rapid progress is already visible; new farm- 
 houses are rising everywhere, and more land is continually 
 coming under cultivation. 
 
 The Campagna presents considerable natural advan- 
 tages; the soil is largely volcanic and very fertile, and 
 there is abundance of good water. Springs are plentiful, 
 and where they fail, as in the Pomptine Marshes, artesian 
 wells have been recently sunk with great success. Though 
 most of it is now pasture-land and perhaps better fitted 
 for this purpose, it seems indeed surprising that vege- 
 tables and garden produce required for the consumption” 
 of the capital are not supplied by growers in the immediate 
 20 : 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 ‘neighbourhood, but are still brought from a considerable 
 distance: however, as usual in such cases all the world 
 over, it is none too easy to break through the strongly ~ 
 established ring which has the markets of Rome in its 
 hands. In the meantime, the charm of the Campagna is 
 -one which it is impossible to describe: the wonderful 
 lights that play upon its innumerable ridges and valleys,®, 
 
 the beautiful outlines of the mountains by which it is“\/_, 
 
 bounded—many do not realise that from Rome orte_can 
 
 easily see peaks in the Central Apennines which rise “to. 
 
 over 8,000 feet above sea-level—the strange, desolate 
 appearance of that part of it which runs towards the 
 sea, hidden from us unless we ascend the dome of St. 
 Peter’s or the Alban or Sabine Hills, the loneliness of the 
 
 flat Latin shore stretching away south-eastward towards 
 - that wonderful promontory of Monte Circeo, that dominates 
 _ the whole coastline and the low-lying Pomptine Marshes, 
 the broad, brown Tiber flowing swiftly in its winding 
 course between high muddy banks—all these different 
 
 scenes make up but a part of what few even of those who 
 
 _ know and love it best have been able to convey to those 
 _ who have but a slight acquaintance with it. 
 
 It is very doubtful, however, whether the charm of 
 the Campagna is meant to be described in prose: one 
 
 might as well expect to understand a symphony of 
 - Beethoven from a printed description, if one had never 
 
 heard it and could not read the score. It is worth recall- 
 
 ing J. K. Jerome’s remarks on the subject (Three Men on 
 
 the Bummel, p. 118): ‘‘ Nothing is easier to write than 
 scenery: nothing more difficult and unnecessary to read. 
 To the average man, who has seen a dozen oil- 
 paintings, a hundred photographs, a thousand pictures 
 in the illustrated journals, a couple of panoramas of 
 Niagara, the word-painting of a waterfall is tedious. 
 
 ‘“ An American friend of mine, a cultured gentleman, 
 who loved poetry well enough for its own sake, told me 
 that he had obtained a more correct and more satisfying 
 idea of the Lake District from an eighteenpenny book of 
 photographic views than from all the works of Coleridge, 
 
 21 
 
 Rae ete <— 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 Southey, and Wordsworth put together. I also remember 
 his saying, concerning this subject of scenery in literature, 
 that he would thank an author as much for writing an 
 elegant description of what he had just had for dinner. 
 But this was in reference to another argument: namely, 
 the proper province of each art; my friend maintaining 
 that just as canvas and colour were the wrong mediums — 
 for story-telling, so word-painting was, at its best, but - 
 a clumsy method of conveying Impressions that could — 
 much better be received through the eye.’ 5 
 
 We will begin from the very beginning, with a short ; 
 sketch of the geology of the Campagna. We find that 
 Sir Archibald Geikie, in his essay on the Roman Campagna,? | 
 traces three distinct successive phases in the sequence 
 of events which made the Campagna what it is: ‘“ First,” 
 he says, ‘‘ came a time when the waves of the Mediterra- — 
 nean broke against the base of the steep front of the 
 Apennines, and when all the low grounds around Rome, ~ 
 and for leagues to the north and south, lay sunk many 
 fathoms deep... .’? The records of this first period 
 (marine clay, sands, and gravels) lie beneath the Seven 
 Hills on the left bank of the Tiber, but appear in the chain — 
 of heights on the right bank that culminates in Monte > 
 Mario (455 feet above sea-level).2 Next followed the chief 
 period in the building up of the Campagna. A host of — 
 volcanoes rose along the sea floor on the west side of 
 Central Italy, when ashes, dust, and stones were thrown 
 out in such quantity and for so prolonged a time as 
 to strew over the sea bottom a mass of material 
 several hundred feet thick. Partly from this accumu-— 
 lation, and partly by an upheaval of the whole region © 
 of Italy, the sea bottom with its voleanic cones was 
 raised up as a strip of low land bordering the high 
 grounds of the interior, and huge volcanoes were 
 piled up to a height of several thousand feet. On the 
 
 1 Landscape in History and other Essays (London, 1905), p. 312. 
 * This clay has ever since Roman times supplied the material — 
 for brickmaking, and we shall see that the valleys which now 
 separate the different summits are in large measure artificial 
 (Lanciani, Ruins and Excavations, 41). 
 
 22 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 south side of the plain the group of the Alban Hills was 
 built up by many successive eruptions. First there was 
 a huge crater with a base about 12 miles in diameter 
 (from Frascati to Velletri is about 10 miles). The pass 
 of Algidus is a gap in this outer crater rim: and Rocca 
 Priora occupies one of the highest points upon its rim, 
 and was probably the site of an ancient town named 
 Corbio. Within this a new and smaller one was subse- 
 quently piled up enclosing a well-marked crater with the 
 Campo d’Annibale at its bottom, while Monte Cavo 
 marks almost (not quite) the highest point on its rim. 
 There are various subsidiary craters—the lakes of Albano 
 and Nemi, the Valle d’Ariccia, the Lago di Turno, Lake 
 Regillus, Prata Porci, the lake of Gabii, etc. 
 
 On the north side is an independent series of voleanoes— 
 the lake of Bracciano, the Lago di Vico, the lake of 
 Bolsena, etc. This volcanic activity must have greatly 
 modified the topographical features—thus the lower part 
 of the course of the Tiber, which originally flowed south- 
 westward between Bolsena and Viterbo, was buried, and it 
 had to find a new way of escape. The tufa of the Roman 
 Campagna is not, however, according to Sir Archibald, 
 derived from the eruptions of these two great volcanic 
 groups, but is rather due “to local eruptions from many 
 and generally small submarine vents, discharging here 
 fine, there coarse materials, at different times and inde- 
 pendent of each other ” (p. 828). These would be difficult 
 to trace, but would, he thinks, be detected by accurate 
 study. There is certainly abundant evidence of spent 
 -yoleanic activity all over the Campagna—hot springs, 
 exhalations of sulphuretted hydrogen—let us take as an 
 example the Solfatara on the way to Ardea, or another 
 at the point where the Velletri railway crosses the Via 
 _ Appia Nuova; and the travertine that we find at Bagni 
 and elsewhere is due to the deposition of carbonate of 
 - lime in solution by hot springs, which may be regarded as 
 an accompaniment or sequel of volcanic activity. 
 
 “Lastly,” says Sir Archibald, “ succeeded the epoch 
 in which the volcanic platform, no longer increased by 
 E : 23 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 fresh eruptions, was carved by the atmospheric agency 
 into the topography which it presents to-day.” : 
 The district sloping down from Velletri to the deadam ; 
 level of the Pomptine Marshes has not, like the western — 
 and northern slopes of the Alban Hills, drainage towards — 
 the Tiber. The subsoil, too, is differently formed: the — 
 surface consists of very absorbent materials, then comes — 
 a stratum of less permeable tufa or peperino (sometimes — 
 clay is present), and below that again more permeable — 
 materials. In ancient and probably pre-Roman times — 
 this district was drained by an elaborate system of © 
 cuniculi, or small drainage tunnels, about 5 feet high and © 
 2 feet wide, which ran, not at the bottom of the valleys, — 
 where there were sometimes streams already, and where, ~ 
 in any case, erosion would have broken through their 
 roofs, but along their slopes, through the less permeable — 
 tufa, their object being to drain the hills on each side of — 
 the valleys. They had probably much to do with the 
 relative healthiness of this district in early times. Some 
 of them have been observed to be earlier in date than the - 
 Via Appia (312 B.c.). They were studied in detail by the 
 late M. R. dela Blanchére. When they fell into desuetude, — 
 the malaria gained the upper hand, the lack of drainage ~ 
 providing breeding- places for the malarial mosquito. — 
 Remains of similar drainage channels exist in many parts — 
 of the Campagna Romana and of Southern Etruria, at points — 
 where the natural drainage was not sufficient, and especi- — 
 ally below cultivated or inhabited hills (though it was 
 not necessary here, as in the neighbourhood of Velletri, — 
 to create a drainage system, as streams and rivers were 7 
 present already as natural collectors), and streams very 
 frequently pass through them at the present day. | 
 The drainage channels which were dug for the various - 
 crater lakes in the neighbourhood of Rome are also interest- 
 ing in this regard. That of the Alban Lake is the most j 
 famous: but all the other crater lakes are similarly 
 provided. % 
 As the drainage by cuniculi removed the moisture _ 
 in the subsoil, so the drainage of the lakes by emissaria— 
 24 2 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 outlet channels at a low level—prevented the permeable 
 strata below the tufa from becoming impregnated with 
 moisture which they would have derived from the lakes 
 of the Alban Hills. The slopes below Velletri, on the 
 other hand, derive much of their moisture from the space 
 between the inner and outer ring of the Alban volcano, 
 which it was impossible to drain: and this in turn receives 
 much moisture from the basin of the extinct inner crater.* 
 
 Numerous isolated palacolithic objects of the Mousterian 
 type have been found in the neighbourhood of Rome, in 
 the quaternary gravels of the Tiber and Anio: but no 
 traces of the neolithic period have come to light, as the 
 many flint implements found sporadically round Rome 
 probably belong to the period which succeeded the neo- 
 lithic, called by Italian archaeologists the eneolithic 
 period, inasmuch as both stone and metal (not, however, 
 bronze, but copper) were in use.? 
 
 At Sgurgola, in the valley of the Sacco, a skeleton 
 was found in a rock-cut tomb of this period which still 
 - bears traces of painting with cinnabar. A similar rock- 
 cut tomb was found at Mandela, in the Anio valley. Both 
 are outside the limits of the Campagna in the narrower 
 sense, but similar tombs were found (though less accurately 
 observed) in travertine quarries between Rome and 
 Tivoli. Objects of the Bronze Age, too, have only been 
 found sporadically. The earliest cemeteries and hut 
 foundations of the Alban Hills belong to the Iron Age, and 
 cemeteries and objects of a similar character have been 
 found in Rome itself and in Southern Etruria, especially 
 the characteristic hut-urns, imitated from the oblong 
 huts. The objects found in these cemeteries show close 
 affinity with those found in the terremare of Emilia, these 
 last being of earlier date, and hence Pigorini and Helbig 
 consider that the Latini were close descendants of the 
 inhabitants of the terremare. On the other hand, the 
 
 1 See M. R. de la Blanchére in Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionnatre 
 des antiquités s.v. Cuniculus, Emissarium, and the same author’s 
 Chapitre d’histoire pontine (Paris, 1889). 
 
 2 See G. A. Colini, in Bullettino Paleoetnologico, xxxi. 1 (1905). 
 
 25 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES — 
 
 ossuaries of the Villanova type, while they occur as far 
 south as Veii and Caere, have never so far been found on 
 the left bank of the Tiber, in Latium proper. 
 
 As to the dates to which these are to be attributed, there 
 is not as yet complete accord, e.g. some archaeologists 
 assign to the eleventh, other to the eighth century B.c., 
 the earliest tombs of the Alban necropolis and the coeval 
 tombs of the necropolis recently discovered in the Forum _ 
 at Rome. (See B. Modestov, Introduction a Vhistoire — 
 romaine (Paris, 1907); Pinza, Mon. Lincet, XV; T. E. 
 Peet, The Stone and Bronze Ages in Italy (Oxford, 1909) ; 
 Maclver, Villanovans and Early Etruscans (Oxford, 1924), 
 who believes that the people of the terremare are only col- 
 laterally related to the Villanovans, both being descended 
 from the peoples of the Danube and Central Europe.) 
 
 Latium ? in ancient geography is the name given to 
 the portion of Central Italy which was bounded on the 
 N.W. by Etruria, on the S.W. by the Tyrrhenian Sea, on 
 the S.E. by Campania, on the E. by Samnium, and on the 
 N.E. by the mountainous district inhabited by the Sabini, 
 Aequi, and Marsi. The name was, however, applied in a 
 very different sense at different times. Latium originally — 
 meant the land of the Latini, and in this sense, which — 
 alone is in use historically, it was a tract of limited extent; 
 but after the overthrow of the Latin Confederacy, when 
 the neighbouring tribes of the Rutuli, Hernici, Volsci, 
 and Aurunci, as well as the Latini properly so called, 
 were reduced to the condition of subjects and citizens 
 of Rome, the name of Latium was extended to comprise 
 them all, and include the whole country from the Tiber 
 to the mouth of the Savo, so as just to include the Mons 
 Massicus, though the boundary was not very precisely 
 fixed. The change thus introduced, though already 
 manifest in the composition of the Latin league, was not 
 formally established till the reign of Augustus, who formed 
 
 1 See L. Pigorini in Rendiconti dei Lincei, ser. v., vol. xvi. (1907) 
 676, and xviii. 249 (1909). 
 
 4 Latium, from the same root as latus, side ; later, brick ; tAdtvc, 
 flat; Sanskrit prath ; not connected with ldtus, wide. 
 
 26 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 of this larger Latium and Campania taken together the 
 first region of Italy; but it is already recognised by 
 Strabo, as well as by Pliny, who terms the additional 
 territory thus incorporated Latium Adjectum, while he 
 designates the original Latium, extending from the Tiber 
 to Circeii, as Latium Antiquum. 
 
 In this original sense Latium consisted principally of 
 an extensive plain, now known as the Campagna di Roma, 
 bounded towards the interior by the Apennines, which rise 
 very abruptly from the plains to a height of between 4,000 
 and 5,000 feet. Several of the Latin cities, including 
 
 - Tibur and Praeneste, were situated on the terrace-like 
 
 underfalls of these mountains,! while Cora, Norba, and 
 Setia were placed in like manner on the slopes of the 
 Volscian mountains (Monti Lepini), a rugged and lofty 
 limestone range, which runs parallel to the main mass of 
 the Apennines, being separated from them, however, by 
 the valley of the Trerus (Sacco), and forms a continuous 
 barrier from thence to Terracina. 
 
 _ That Rome was once ruled by a race of Etruscan 
 princes, the Tarquins, there is, even in the minds of the 
 most critical of historians, practically no doubt. Under 
 their sway or that of their like, the power of Etruria 
 extended far to the south into Campania. Their fall 
 meant a restriction of the growing power of Rome over 
 her neighbours, and it was some while before the infant 
 Republic could make up the lost ground. It was only at 
 the beginning of the fourth century B.c., according to 
 the traditional date, that Veii fell. The power of that 
 city was considerable, and the great network of drainage 
 channels to the north of it cannot have been the work 
 of isolated landowners, but must be the result of a large 
 and carefully planned scheme. The traces of the power 
 of Veii lasted on in the nomenclature of Imperial times. 
 Horace in a well-known passage talks of the right bank of 
 the Tiber as the ‘‘ Etruscan bank.” 2 And, in the still 
 
 1 In the time of Augustus the boundary of Latium extended as 
 far E. as Treba (Trevi), 12 miles S.E. of Sublaqueum (Subiaco). 
 2 Vidimus flavum Tiberim retortis litore Etrusco violenter undis, etc. 
 
 27 
 
{ 
 
 THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES — 
 
 more prosaic language of the inscriptions on the bound- ~ 
 ary stones placed along the right bank of the Tiber by 
 Augustus,! we find that bank referred to as Ripa Veientana 
 —the Veii bank—sometimes abbreviated as R.V. 
 
 The Campagna di Roma in common parlance, and as 
 we shall study it, includes besides Latium a considerable 
 portion of Southern Etruria. Near Rome, on the right 
 bank of the Tiber, there was probably much forest-land, 
 for, while roads are plentiful, ruins are scarce. 
 
 In attempting to trace the gradual spread of the power 
 of Rome in Latium, we cannot place overmuch reliance — 
 upon the traditional accounts, and to discuss, with Pais — 
 and De Sanctis and others, the question of their credibility _ 
 would take us far too long. The list of the thirty com- — 
 munities belonging to the Latin League, given by Dionysius — 
 of Halicarnassus (v. 61), is, however, of great importance. — 
 It is considered by Th. Mommsen (Roman History, vol. i. — 
 p. 448) that it dates from about the year 370 B.c., to which 
 period belongs the closing of the Confederacy, no fresh — 
 communities being afterwards admitted to it, and the 
 ~ consequent fixing of the boundaries of Latium. The q 
 list is as follows: Ardeates, Aricini, Bovillani (or Bolani), : 
 Bubentani, Cabani, Carventani, Circeiates, Coriolani, — 
 Corbintes, Corni (probably Corani), Fortinei (?), Gabini, — 
 Laurentini, Lavinates, Labicani, Lanuvini, Nomentani, — 
 Norbani, Praenestini, Pedani, Querquetulani, Satricani, i 
 Scaptini, Setini (Signini (?)), Tellenii, Tiburtini, Tolerini, — 
 Tusculani, Veliterni. <q 
 
 Most of these places can be identified: but Pliny the © 
 Elder (N.H. iii. 69) gives us another list,” including at — 
 most eight of those found in the list of Dionysius (and — 
 
 1 O.I.L. vi. 81547, 81555. : 
 
 2 Albani, Aesolani (probably E. of Tibur), Accienses, Abolani, — 
 Bubetani, Bolani, Cusuetani (Carventani ?), Coriolani, Fidenates, — 
 Foreti (Fortinei ?), Hortenses (near Corbio), Latinienses (near Rome — 
 itself), Longani, Manates, Macrales, Munienses (Castrimoenium ?), — 
 Numinienses, Olliculani, Octulani, Pedani, Poletaurini, Querquetu- — 
 lani, Sicani, Sisolienses, Tolerienses, Tutienses (not, one would think, — 
 connected with the small stream called Tutia at the sixth mile of — 
 
 the Via Salaria—Liv. xxvi. 11), Vimitellari, Velienses, Venetulani, — 
 Vitellenses (not far from Corbio). , 4 
 
 28 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 those among the least known), which purports to be 
 that of the populi Albenses, the earlier confederation 
 of thirty towns or villages under the supremacy of Alba 
 Longa. It is clear that this league did not occupy any 
 great extent of territory, for the more powerful towns 
 of Aricia, Lanuvium, and Tusculum were outside its 
 sway. 
 
 We are on firmer ground in dealing with the spread 
 of the supremacy of Rome in Latium when we take account 
 of the foundation of new colonies and the formation of 
 new tribes, processes which as a rule go together. The 
 information that we have as to the districts in which the 
 sixteen earliest clans (tribus rusticae) were settled shows 
 us that, except along the Tiber, Rome’s dominion extended 
 hardly more than 5 miles beyond the city gates. Thus 
 towards the north and east we find the towns of Antemnae, 
 Fidenae, Caenina, and Gabii1!: on the S.E., towards 
 
 _ Alba, the boundary of Roman territory was at the Fossae 
 
 Cluiliae, 5 miles from Rome, where Coriolanus encamped, 
 and on the S. towards Lavinium at the sixth mile, 
 where sacrifice to Terminus was made: the Ambarvalia 
 too were celebrated even in Strabo’s day at a place called 
 Photo, between the fifth and sixth mile. The identifica- 
 tion of this locality with the grove of the Arval brothers 
 at the fifth mile of the Via Campana to the W. of Rome, 
 and of the Ambarvalia with the festival celebrated by this 
 brotherhood in May of each year, is now generally accepted. 
 But Roman sway must either from the first or very soon 
 have extended to the salt-marshes at the mouth of the 
 Tiber.? 
 
 1 We have various traces of the early antagonism to Gabil, e.g. 
 the opposition between ager Romanus and ager Gabinus in the 
 augural law. 
 
 2 For the early extension of Roman territory towards the sea, 
 see Festus, p. 213, Miill., s.v. Pectuscum: ‘‘ That part of the city 
 is called the breastwork of the Palatine, which Romulus placed 
 towards the enemy on the side on which the Roman territory 
 extended furthest towards the sea, and on which the city was 
 approached by the most gentle slope, the Roman territory being 
 divided from the Etruscan by the river, and the other neighbouring 
 cities having various hills facing them.” 
 
 29 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES — 
 
 The boundary of the ager Romanus antiquus towards 
 the N.W. is similarly fixed by the festival of the Robigalia 
 at the fifth milestone of the Via Clodia. ey, 
 
 Within this area fall the districts inhabited by the earliest 
 tribes, so far as these are known to us. The Romilii were 
 settled on the right bank of the Tiber near the sanctuary 
 of the Arvales, the tribus Galeria perhaps a little further 
 W., on the lower course of the stream now known as 
 Galera, and the Fabia perhaps on the Cremera towards 
 Veii. We know that the pagus Lemonius was on the Via 
 Latina, and that the Pupinian tribe dwelt between Tus- 
 culum and the city, while the Papirian possibly lived 
 nearer Tusculum, as it was to this tribe that the Roman 
 citizens in Tusculum belonged in later days. It is pos- 
 sible that the Camilian was situated in the direction of 
 Tibur, inasmuch as this town was afterwards enrolled 
 in this tribe. The Claudian tribe, probably the last of 
 
 the sixteen older tribus rusticae, was, according to tradi- _ 
 
 tion, founded in 504 B.c. Its territory lay beyond the ~ 
 Anio between Fidenae and Ficulea (Liv. ii. 16; Dion. Hal. — 
 
 v. 40). The locality of the pagi round which the other — 
 
 tribes were grouped is not known to us. 
 
 With the earliest extensions of the Roman territory 
 coincided the first beginnings of the Roman road 
 system. 
 
 After the Latin communities on the lower Anio had 
 
 fallen under the dominion of Rome, we may well believe 4 
 that the first portion of the Via Salaria, leading to : 
 
 Antemnae, Fidenae, and Crustumerium, came into exist- 
 ence. The formation (according to the traditional dating 
 in 495 or 471 B.c.) of the tribus Clustumina (the only one _ 
 of the earlier twenty-one tribes which bears a local name) _ 
 
 is both a consequence of an extension of territory and 4 
 of the establishment of the assembly of the plebs by — 
 
 tribes, for which an inequality of the total number of ~ 
 divisions was desirable (Mommsen, History of Rome, i. — 
 860). The correlative of the Via Salaria was the Via — 
 Campana, so called because it led past the grove of the © 
 Arvales, along the right bank of the Tiber to the campus 
 30 Bs 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 Salinarum Romanarum,' the salt-marshes, from which the 
 Via Salaria took its name, inasmuch as it was the route 
 by which Sabine traders came from the interior to fetch 
 the salt. To this period would also belong the Via Ficu- 
 lensis, which led to Ficulea,? afterwards prolonged to 
 Nomentum, and the Via Collatina, which led to Collatia. 
 Gabii, too, became Roman in fairly early times, though at 
 what period is uncertain, and with its subjugation must 
 have originated the Via Gabina,® afterwards prolonged to 
 Praeneste. The Via Latina is, like the Via Appia, obvi- 
 ously a military highway ruled straight on the map, and 
 therefore of artificial origin. Its establishment must be 
 connected with the fighting with the Aequi for the pass of 
 Algidus in the fifth and fourth centuries B.c. 
 
 The three primitive roads to the Alban Hills were 
 probably the original road to Tusculum, which later 
 became the first part of the Via Labicana: the Via Castri- 
 moeniensis, which led to Castrimoenium, the modern 
 Marino; and a road which led to Alba Longa, probably 
 more or less along the line of the first 12 miles of the Via 
 Appia. The road to Satricum (Conca) is also of very 
 ancient origin. Aerial photography may be expected to 
 throw light upon this whole question. 
 
 Tradition places the foundation of the Latin colony 
 at Signia as early as 495 B.c., while Norba is said to have 
 received a colony three years later. This is in accord 
 with the archaeological evidence, and so the magnificent 
 walls of polygonal blocks of limestone must be taken to 
 be of Roman date. This principle must probably be 
 widely extended. The Via Salaria can hardly have 
 existed as a Roman highroad before the fall of Fidenae 
 (traditionally placed in 428 B.c.), but not long after the 
 capture of this outpost of Veii the chief city itself fell 
 
 1 The ancient name is known from an inscription discovered in 
 1888 (Lanciani, Bull. Comm. 1888, 83 ; Ruins and Excavatons, 530) 
 which mentions the ‘ corpus saccariorum salariorum,’’ who were 
 
 - employed there as porters. 
 
 2 Liv. iii. 52; C.I.L. xiv. 447. See Dessau, Inscr. Lat. Sel. 6178. 
 3 Liv. ii. 11; i1i.6; v. 49. 
 
 31 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES q 
 
 (396 B.c.) and a road (still traceable) was probably made — 
 thither. There was also probably a road to Caere in ~ 
 early times, inasmuch as we hear of the flight of the 
 Vestals thither in 389 B.c. ‘4 
 
 The origin of the rest of the roads is no doubt to be © 
 connected with the gradual establishment of the Latin — 
 League. We find that while the later (long-distance) roads _ 
 bear as a rule the name of their constructor, all the short- 4 
 distance roads on the left bank of the Tiber bear the names 9 
 of towns which belong to it—Nomentum, Tibur, Collatia, — 
 Praeneste, Labici, Ardea, Laurentum. The Via Pedana, — 
 leading to Pedum, is only known to us from an inscription — 
 (Bull. Soc. Antiquaires de France, 1905, 177 ) discovered in — 
 Tunisia in 1905, and may be of much later origin, and was — 
 a branch of the Via Praenestina. The road to Bovillae ~ 
 must have been prolonged to Aricia, Lanuvium, and a 
 Velitrae, and thence to Cora, Norba, and Setia. 4 
 
 We can trace the advance of the Roman supremacy — 
 with greater ease after 387 B.c., inasmuch as from this — 
 year (adopting the traditional dating for what it is worth) — 
 until 299 B.c. every accession of territory is marked by 4 
 the foundation of a group of new tribes; the limit of — 
 thirty-five in all was reached in the latter year. In 387, ; 
 after the departure of the Gauls, Southern Etruria was . 
 conquered and four new tribes were formed—the Arnensis — 
 (probably derived from Aro, the modern Arrone—though ~ 
 the ancient name does not occur in literature—the stream — 
 which forms the outlet to the lake of Bracciano +), Saba- a 
 tina (taking its name from this very lake), Stellatina q 
 (named from the Campus Stellatinus, near Capena: cf. 4 
 Festus, p. 348, Miill.), and Tromentina (which, Festus — 
 tells us, was so called from the Campus Tromentus, the ~ 
 situation of which we do not know). 4 
 
 Four years later comes the foundation of the Latin — 
 colonies of Sutrium and Nepet. In 3858 B.c. Roman 
 preponderance in the Pomptine territory was shown — 
 by the formation of the tribus Pomptina and Publilia, 
 while in 338 and 3829 respectively Antium and Tarracina q 
 
 1 Kubitschek in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopddie, ii. 1204. 
 32 F 
 
o, 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 became colonies of Roman citizens, the former having 
 been founded as a Latin colony in 494 B.c. 
 
 After the dissolution of the Latin League, which followed 
 upon the defeat of the united forces of the Samnites and 
 of those Latin and Volscian cities which had revolted 
 against Rome, two new tribes, Maecia and Scaptia,! were 
 created in 332 B.c. in connexion with the distribution of 
 the newly acquired lands (Mommsen, History, i. 462). 
 A further advance in the same direction, ending in the 
 capture of Privernum in 829 B.c., is marked by the estab- 
 lishment in 318 B.c. of the tribus Oufentina (from the 
 river Ufens, which runs below Setia, now Sezze, and 
 Privernum, now Piperno) and the tribus Falerna (in 
 the ager Falernus), while the foundation of the colonies 
 of Cales (834) and Fregellae (828) secured the newly won 
 South Volscian and Campanian territories, and led no doubt 
 to a prolongation of the Via Latina. The moment had 
 now come for the pushing forward of the Via Appia, which 
 had perhaps run as far as Terracina in 348 B.c., but was 
 now prolonged into the heart of the newly conquered 
 territory of Campania to Capua, constructed (munita) 
 in 312 B.c. (Liv. ix. 29; Frontinus de aquis, i. 5), but appar- 
 ently not paved till 292 3B.c., and even then with silex 
 only from the temple of Mars, a mile beyond the Porta 
 Capena, to Bovillae, a footpath in saxum quadratum being 
 considered sufficient from the gate to the temple (Liv. x. 
 23, 47) until 189 B.c. (Liv. xxxviil. 28). 
 
 In 291, after the colonisation of Horace’s birthplace, 
 
 Venusia, with the large number of 20,000 settlers, it was 
 
 doubtless taken as far as this town, Beneventum, half-way 
 
 between Capua and Venusia, serving as a fortress to 
 
 guard the road, and in 264 it was prolonged to Taranto 
 and Brindisi. Other improvements were very likely made 
 
 fifteen years later (in 174 8B.c.). Cf. Liv. xli. 27: Censores 
 
 vias sternendas silice in urbe, glarea extra urbem substruendas 
 
 1 Festus tells us (p. 186, Miill.) that the Maecia derived its name 
 a@ quodam castro. Scaptia was the only member of the Latin League 
 
 that gave its name to a tribe. 
 
 Cc 33 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 4 
 
 marginandasque primi omnium locaverunt, pontesque multis B 
 locis faciendos. F 
 
 The Via Appia was always regarded as the first and 
 best of Roman roads—Strabo classes it with the Latina — 
 and Valeria among the chief roads of Latium, probably 
 partly owing to the fact that these three roads served the 
 districts most in favour as country residences in his day. © 
 Compare also the enthusiastic description of Procopius — 
 (Bell. Goth. i. 14). Statius (Silvae, ii. 2) has called it 
 regina viarum, and even now the Roman peasants often 
 speak of an ancient paved road as via appia. 
 
 Its construction may fairly be taken to mark the period 
 at which the roads of which we have spoken, hitherto — 
 probably mere tracks, began to be transformed into real 
 highways. In the same year (312) the colony of Interamna 
 Lirenas was founded, while Luceria, Suessa, and Saticula 
 had been established a year or two previously. Sora 
 followed nine years later. It seems to me clear that the 
 Via Latina must have existed before the Appia. 
 
 In 299 z.c. further successes led to the establishment of 
 two new tribes—the Teretina in the upper valley of the 
 Trerus (Sacco) and the Aniensis, in the upper valley of 
 the Anio—while to about the same time we must attribute 
 the construction of two new military roads, both secured 
 by fortresses. The southern road, the Via Valeria, which 
 perhaps owes its name to the censor of 305 B.c., M. 
 Valerius Maximus (Liv. ix. 48), led to Carsioli and Alba — 
 Fucens (founded as Latin colonies respectively in 298 
 and 308 B.c.), whence it was extended to Corfinium before ~ 
 the time of Strabo (v. 8. 11) and to the Adriatic under the — 
 Emperor Claudius, and the northern (afterwards the Via — 
 Flaminia) to Narnia (founded as a Latin colony in 299 B.c.). — 
 There is little doubt that the formation of the tribus ’ 
 
 & 
 
 chee ae 1 tl 
 ee ee ee ee 
 
 Quirina (deriving its name possibly from the town of 
 Cures) and the tribus Velina (from the river Velinus, which ~ 
 forms the well-known waterfalls near Terni) is to be con- — 
 nected with the construction of the latter highroad, though 
 the dates are not certainly known. But the construction ~ 
 of the Via Flaminia as a whole is due to C. Flaminius, the 
 bd 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 censor of 220 B.c., after the subjugation of the Boii and 
 Insubres?; while of the other roads on the right bank 
 of the Tiber, the Via Clodia, the earliest, is of unknown 
 date; the Via Aurelia is dated by Mommsen about 177 B.c.,? 
 though there was apparently a road to Caere in 389 B.c. 
 (and indeed there must have been a route long before, in 
 the time of the Etruscan kings), when the Vestals fled 
 there at the time of the Gaulish invasion: while there 
 was a route from Rome to Vada Volaterrana and Luna in 
 241 B.c. The line of the Via Cassia must have been used 
 for the purposes of the campaign of 217 B.c., especially 
 as the road from Arretium (Arezzo) to Bononia (Bologna) 
 was made in 189 B.c. As there is no Cassius in the list of 
 consuls between 486 and 171 B.c., we must suppose that 
 it already existed, and took its name from the consul 
 of 171 B.c., who reconstructed it, losing whatever name 
 it had previously possessed. 
 
 Having traced the development of the road system, 
 let us now consider how it was managed during the Repub- 
 lican period. The roads were far too important to be 
 given up to the management of the municipal officials 
 of the various towns through which they passed, and 
 were kept in the hands of the central administration. 
 The censors naturally had the management of this depart- 
 ment, as responsible for the letting of all contracts for 
 public works. It was by censors that the Via Appia, the 
 Via Flaminia, and the Via Aemilia in Etruria were con- 
 structed, and we hear, further, of occasions on which their 
 activity was exercised more generally in making roads 
 across the country at the public expense, or in having 
 the existing roads paved with gravel, and providing for 
 the construction of bridges. Even at Pisaurum (174 B.c., 
 Liv. xli. 27) the censors (who were very active) let out a 
 paving contract. But the tendency to delegate the 
 extra-urban functions of the censors to higher officials 
 representing them comes out very clearly, especially 
 
 1 Ashby and Fell in Journal of Roman Studies, xi. 125. : 
 2 History of Rome, i. 486n. Anziani in Mélanges de Ecole 
 Francaise, xxxili. (1913) 242. 
 35 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 when the roads to be built were at some distance from — 
 Rome. This was the case in Cisalpine Gaul, where the — 
 roads were constructed by consuls ? often during or as the | 
 sequel to a campaign. It is from this fact that we get 
 the names Via Consularis and Via Praetoria for the great — 
 roads, which vary, as we are told, according to whether : 
 their builder was a man of consular or of praetorian rank, — 
 though of the latter no cases are known in Italy. In a 
 number of cases, however, where the road bears the name P 
 of a family, we do not know when or by whom, whether © 
 by a censor, a consul, or a praetor, it was constructed ; and — 
 the fact that a road bears the name of a family does not 
 always mean that it is a road of first-class importance, — 
 though the converse—that no road of great importance 
 bears the name of a town—is true, as we have already — 
 seen. 4 
 The censors were not even exclusively responsible for — 
 the maintenance of the roads in good order. The earliest — 
 milestone known to us—one of those of the Via Appia — 
 at Mesa (ad Medias) in the Pomptine Marshes—bears the 
 names of two aediles, though the competence of the aediles” 
 strictly ended at the first milestone (Mommsen, Staats- 
 recht, i. p. 68): it probably belongs to the end of the 
 fifth century of Rome, i.e. to about 255 B.c. The eleventh 3 
 milestone of the Via Ostiensis, found near Malafede and 
 preserved in the Lateran Museum, was erected by a plebeian — 
 aedile, and so was the thirtieth milestone of the Via 
 Tiberina from Nazzano; while the thirteenth milestone 
 of the Via Praenestina (infra, p. 186) was erected by two 
 curule aediles.2. The original milestones were placed by 
 the constructor of the road. | : 
 
 According to Plutarch, C. Gracchus was the great 
 organiser of the Roman road system. “ His chief care,” 
 he says, “‘ was the construction of roads, in which he paid 
 regard both to its useful and its ornamental side. For 
 
 1 Also with the Via Caecilia, a road which left the Salaria at about 
 the thirty-fifth mile and ran across the mountains to the Adriatic, 
 and which was not improbably constructed by C. Caecilius Metellus 
 Diadematus (consul 117 B.c.). : q 
 
 2 These are all now published in C.J.L. i? 2. 21, 22, 829, 833. 
 
 36 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 they were driven straight across country, regardless of 
 obstacles, paved with smoothed stone, and strengthened 
 with mounds of rammed earth. The hollows were filled, 
 the torrents and ravines which cut the line of the road 
 spanned by bridges, so that the height on each side was 
 the same, and the whole work had a regular and elegant 
 appearance. Further, he measured the whole road by 
 miles, and set up stone pillars to mark the distances. 
 And he disposed other stones at a less distance from each 
 other on each side of the road, so that it might be easier 
 for riders to mount from them without requiring a mount- 
 ing-block.”’ 
 
 As a result perhaps of his activity we find that con- 
 siderable extensions of the road system were made in Italy 
 and in the provinces at the end of the second century B.c. 
 And at some period in the seventh century of the city— 
 not later than 92 B.c.—a series of curatores viarum e lege 
 Visellia appear. This office was not a part of the regular 
 succession of offices, and in fact might be held in con- 
 junction with the tribunate, aedileship, praetorship, or 
 consulship. The repairs to the Via Caecilia recorded in 
 an inscription now existing in the Museo delle Terme 
 were carried out under the supervision of a tribune as 
 curator viarum. Julius Caesar was curator of the Via 
 Appia while aedile, Minucius Thermus, Cicero’s friend, of 
 the Flaminia between the praetorship and the consulship. 
 
 The foundation of the Roman Empire marks the great 
 change in this, as in other parts of the administration. 
 Augustus in 27 B.c. had to take exceptional measures to 
 get the roads into order. We are told by Dio Cassius that, 
 finding them in bad condition, he allotted them among 
 various senators to restore at their own expense, taking 
 over the Via Flaminia himself—and subsequently also the 
 other roads, as the senators did not care to spend money 
 upon them. 
 
 1 Compare Strabo, v. 3. 8, who speaks of the roads as made by 
 cutting through hills and filling up valleys ; and Appian (B.C. i. 23), 
 who speaks of the army of contractors and workmen who served 
 under him. 
 
 37 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 According to Suetonius, on the other hand, the roads _ 
 were allotted among those who had enjoyed the honour — 
 of a triumph, the necessary funds being drawn from the ~ 
 
 booty taken. The inscription on the arch at Rimini — 
 
 records that it was erected in his honour in the same year — 
 (27 B.c.) because on his initiative and at his expense the 
 Via Flaminia and the other most frequented roads of 
 Italy had been put into order (munitis). This word — 
 munire, which is always used, is instructive—it means © 
 literally to wall (munia or moenia is the word used for 
 city walls) or fortify, and it gives some idea of the scale © 
 
 upon which they were constructed. Dionysius of Hali- 
 
 carnassus, the historian, and Strabo, the geographer, — 
 both of whom knew the Rome of Augustus—they came ~ 
 to it soon after the Battle of Actium—speak of the roads, — 
 the aqueducts, and the drains as the most splendid works — 
 of Rome in which her power was most strikingly displayed. — 
 
 The only bridges not repaired upon the Via Flaminia — 
 in 27 B.c. were the Pons Mulvius (Ponte Molle) and a Pons — 
 Minucius (site unknown). The coins which record this — 
 restoration of the road depict, nevertheless, the Pons © 
 Mulvius, but this is owing to the fact that a triumphal — 
 arch was erected here as well as at Rimini. q 
 
 In 20 z.c. Augustus took over the care of the roads — 
 formally, and erected the much-discussed milliarium — 
 aureum in the Forum. This was not the starting-point — 
 of all the roads of the Empire, in the sense that it marked, — 
 as we might say, mile 0; for the numbering of the miles © 
 on each of the roads began from the gate of the Serviam ~ 
 wall from which it issued. It probably merely gave the — 
 distances along the chief roads to the most important — 
 places in the Roman Empire. 4 
 
 Augustus delegated his functions to others, curators — 
 chosen from among those who had held the praetorship, — 
 in the case of the more important roads,! while those of — 
 lesser importance were either grouped under the roads of © 
 
 1 There is only one known instance of the holding of the cura 
 of a road (the Via Aemilia) after the consulship (Bull. Com. 1891, 
 89; C.I.L. iii. 4018); this was under Vespasian. * 
 38 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 the first class with which they were connected, or put 
 under separate curators or procurators of equestrian rank. 
 In the case of two roads—Aemilia and Flaminia—we hear 
 of the existence of sub-curators of equestrian rank. The 
 viae vicinales remained under the control of the municipal 
 authorities, the distinction between them and the State 
 roads (viae publicae) being that the latter were under the 
 control of curatores. 
 
 These curators had authority up to the walls of Rome, 
 so that there was no longer any reason for the existence 
 of the duoviri, who had charge of the roads within 1 mile of 
 the city—though we do hear of the special appointment 
 of commissioners for limited periods for the suburban 
 roads. They were not apparently always careful in the 
 performance of their duties—we hear of complaints being 
 made against them by the Senate in the time of Tiberius 
 (Tac. Ann. iii. 31), and Caligula was able to gain large 
 sums to satisfy his extravagance by having them brought 
 to trial for misuse of public funds (Dio. Cass. lix. 15). 
 
 From the time of Nerva we find that the curatores 
 frequently (though not necessarily) had also to take 
 charge of the alimentary institutions for which Nerva was 
 responsible. These are so remarkable as to deserve a 
 word. For each town which received the benefit of the 
 endowment a sum of money was set aside and lent to 
 landed proprietors, and the annual interest which it 
 produced formed support of the charity, which was in- 
 tended to help education of children of poor parents. 
 The investment, resting on land, was secure, and the 
 State undertook not to withdraw the loan. 
 
 The unity of the two officers was frequent but not neces- 
 sary ; we find, e.g., praefects alumentorum of Flaminia and 
 Aemilia without care of roads so as to distribute the 
 work. An alternative method was to appoint subcuratores 
 viae et alimentorum, as was done with these two very 
 roads, to help the curatores. And in districts not traversed 
 by roads of first-class importance, separate praefectt for 
 alimenta existed. 
 
 The duties of these officials were to see that the road 
 
 39 
 
4A 
 
 THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 was kept in repair, that there was no hindering of access 
 nor encroachment by building upon them, and that they 
 were not damaged by drains, etc., constructed by private 
 persons. ‘They were also empowered to punish fraudulent 
 extortions by Customs officials. We have many inscriptions 
 in which the curatorship of a road is part of the regular 
 succession of offices, finding place after the praetorship, 
 especially of the second and third centuries: after that 
 they disappear. Curatores are not heard of after A.D. 315, 
 and the office seems to have disappeared as a consequence 
 of the administrative changes of Diocletian and Con- 
 stantine. 
 
 The praefecti praetorio, who had for some time controlled 
 the postal administration,! now took up the general control 
 of contractors for work on roads, and thus superseded the 
 curatores. , 
 
 The first use of the name of a road as that of a district 
 is when Augustus used Aemilia as a name of one of the 
 regions into which he divided Italy. But Flaminia 
 came into use later from being the name of an alimentary 
 district; thus we get a corrector Flaminiae et Picent 
 (C.I.L. xiv. 3594). 
 
 The milestones, however, in Imperial times all bear 
 the Emperor’s name, and not titles of any other official. 
 Augustus, Trajan, and Maxentius are responsible for a great 
 many: those of the earlier emperors are large, round 
 masses of travertine; we also get neat columns of marble, 
 
 especially near Rome (e.g. the first and seventh of the _ 
 
 Via Appia on the balustrade of the Capitol), and later 
 still small marble columns with Maxentius’ inscription 
 rudely scrawled upon them (no other word describes the 
 sprawling carelessness of this period). Milestones near 
 Rome are rather scarce, except in museums: and just 
 beyond Decimo, on the Via Laurentina, is the only place 
 where one may still be seen in situ—the eleventh (of 
 
 * The postal administration—which involved providing horses 
 and vehicles for Imperial officials on journeys—for which first 
 communities and then, as this led to abuses and exactions, the 
 Imperial treasury paid—was separately managed by other officials. 
 40 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 Tiberius), while the stone set up by Maxentius is in the 
 
 courtyard of the Casale or farmhouse which perpetuates 
 
 the name of the tenth mile, a little nearer Rome. 
 
 There are other instances besides this of the perpetua- 
 
 tion of distance names—the Ponte di Nona and the Valle 
 
 Vigesimo, at the ninth and twentieth mile of the Via 
 
 Praenestina. The posting stations were often named by 
 distances, if there was no town near, e.g. ad Quintanas 
 
 on the Via Labicana, and ad Decimum on the Via Latina ; 
 - this latter in turn gave its name to a village, the inhabitants 
 of which were called Decimienses. Such names are, both 
 in Italy and elsewhere, used in the Itineraries, official 
 documents giving the distances along the roads of the 
 
 Roman Empire. These are, it need hardly be said, 
 preserved to us only in copies. The most important are 
 the Itinerarium Antonini—it is not certain which emperor 
 is referred to, but probably Caracalla—which is probably 
 an unskilful excerpt from a map!; and the Tabula 
  Peutingerana, a large map of the roads of the Empire, 
 discovered in a convent library in 1494 by Conrad Peutinger 
 and now in Vienna—no less than 21 feet 3 inches long and 
 only 1 foot wide—so that there is great distortion. It 
 was copied, no doubt, from an official document, the date 
 of which is uncertain. 
 
 The Ravenna Itinerary is very close to it, and the follow- 
 ing pedigree is suggested by Kubitschek * :— 
 
 Map (of the world) A. 
 
 Antonine Map B. 
 Itinerary | 
 
 Anon. Ravenn. Tab. Peut. 
 
 Still more valuable documents, because contemporary, 
 are the four silver cups found at Vicarello, near the lake 
 
 1 Cf. the Ravenna Itinerary, where this is expressly stated. 
 2 Oesterreiche Jahreshefte, v. (1902) 81. 
 Al 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES — 
 
 of Bracciano, which give the itinerary from Gades (Cadiz) 
 to Rome by land; traversing Italy by the Via Flaminia. 
 They probably belong to the time of Trajan. 
 
 The main arteries of traffic in the neighbourhood of 
 Rome, when the system was completed, came to fall 
 into two different classes—the short-distance roads, 
 which were never prolonged beyond the town which they 
 had been intended to serve, and therefore continued to 
 bear its name; and the long-distance roads, which had 
 originally performed the same function, but had grown 
 into military and commercial highways, and bore the 
 name of the man who was responsible for their construction 
 as such. 
 
 Besides these main thoroughfares, the Roman Campagna > 
 was well provided with branch roads, viae vicinales or — 
 deverticula or ramuli, called also by Livy transversi © 
 limites (xxii. 1. 2) or transversi tramites (ii. 89). The less — 
 important were under the charge of local officials, the © 
 magistri pagorum. These differ from the main roads — 
 in width but not in construction: they are sometimes _ 
 only 8 Roman feet in width, whereas the former run — 
 from 14 to 15 feet wide in open country, going up to 18 | 
 on a steep hill, 21 on a bridge (the Ponte di Nona), or — 
 80 (the maximum) on the great embankments of the Via — 
 Appia below Aricia and the Via Flaminia at the Muro del — 
 Peccato, and also on the bridge over the Almo on the Via — 
 
 Ostiensis, half-way to S. Paolo fuori le Mura. 
 
 We have a description in Vitruvius of how a road-bed — 
 should theoretically be laid, and a section corresponding — 
 to this description has been found on the Via Appia. — 
 But in the vast majority of cases in the Roman Campagna ~ 
 the paving-stones, massive polygonal blocks of lava — 
 (known as selce, and still used for paving in Rome), are — 
 laid almost direct on the volcanic soil or rock, and I have q 
 hardly ever seen what might be called the ideal or theo- — 
 retical section in any Roman road. The same is the case | 
 in the calcareous mountains east of Rome, where limestone — 
 
 paving-blocks are often used. 
 
 42 
 
 Ee 
 
 In both cases, even when the surface was well levelled, a 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 the blocks new and well laid, and the joints close, the 
 jarring must have been considerable. This would no 
 doubt be mitigated for travellers by having the carts 
 slung on thongs. Examples of gravelled roads are rare, 
 e.g. the Via Ostiensis (between the 13th and 14th kilo- 
 metres).1 There is often an edging (crepido), sometimes 
 of irregular blocks of selce, like small paving-stones, 
 
 sometimes of rectangular blocks of stone—not only on 
 bridges but elsewhere. The best instance of parapets 
 that I know is on the Via Flaminia, a little beyond the 
 ‘railway station of Civita Castellana, where the blocks 
 measure 1 foot 8 inches thick by 2 feet 2 inches high, 
 and there are higher blocks standing vertically at intervals 
 of 25 metres, each 3 feet high and 2 wide. 
 
 Of bridges there are many examples, great and small. 
 Cuttings through the hills are very frequent, and often 
 provide, in the absence of excavation, the only evidence 
 by which the course of a road can be traced. They are, 
 
 - more often than not, avoided by the mediaeval road, 
 
 which the modern line generally follows. I suppose that, 
 on the principle of corruptio optimi pessima, nothing would 
 be so hard an obstacle to negotiate as a Roman road 
 the pavement of which had been thoroughly dislocated, 
 nor anything so difficult to repair. It was probably 
 much easier, when it was necessary to mend the road, 
 as, for example, on the occasion of a papal jubilee, to 
 break the old paving-stones to pieces and make a new 
 track close by. On these occasions tombs also fell a 
 prey to the roadmenders. To cuttings correspond steep 
 gradients and the observance of the direct line from point 
 to point. But the principle of straightness was by no 
 means uniformly observed. The Via Flaminia and the 
 Via Labicana are two striking instances to the contrary. 
 In portions of the course of the former the only thing 
 to do was to keep to the watershed between two deep 
 ravines; while the constructors of the latter seem to 
 have taken things as they found them and to have troubled 
 little about engineering works. 
 
 1 Not. Scavi. 1913, 9. 
 43 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 A difficulty that confronts us at once is in regard to 
 dating. It was a comfortable doctrine that all buildings 
 in opus quadratum, or masonry of hewn stones, belonged 
 to the Republican period; but it will not hold water. 
 On the other hand, we do know that neither it nor opus 
 reticulatum can be placed as late as the time of Septimius 
 Severus: and there is now little doubt that some of the 
 brick bridges near Rome belong to the Roman period. 
 We have, of course, a whole series of bridges in brick- 
 faced concrete on the Via Traiana between Benevento 
 and Bari. | 
 
 To the Republic we may assign a few buildings, mostly 
 of a sacred character—the temple at Gabii, the great 
 substructions and other buildings connected with the 
 temples of Fortune at Praeneste and Hercules at Tibur, 
 a certain number of tombs and bridges—some farmhouses 
 or villae rusticae—and that is about all. 
 
 The last century of the Republic with its great increase 
 in wealth and luxury must have seen the erection of 
 many of the great villas in the territory of Tusculum 
 and Tibur. But it was under Augustus that the first 
 great increase in prosperity came. He regulated the 
 course of the Tiber both above and below Rome—it has 
 been ascertained that the authority of the curatores of 
 Tiberius extended as far as Ostia—and restored the 
 aqueducts which supplied the city. As to the highroads, 
 he caused them to be repaired by others, but took on the 
 care of the Via Flaminia himself. 
 
 With him began an era of Imperial benefactions to 
 the towns of Italy—Otricoli is a striking example of a 
 
 small country town in which the greater part of the public 
 buildings belong to his reign—and temples of Rome and 
 Augustus were dedicated as near as Terracina. 7 
 
 These country towns were governed by two judicial 
 magistrates and two officials in charge of public works 
 (duumvirt ture dicundo and dwumviri aediles), who had 
 special functions, like those of the Roman censors, every 
 fifth year (quinquennales), and by a town council (decuriones 
 or curiales). The Augustales were a body devoted to the 
 44, 
 
 : 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 worship of the Emperor—usually a committee of six. The 
 trade guilds (collegia) also owe their rise in importance 
 to this period. Many of the holders of these offices were 
 people in a humble condition of life—often freedmen— 
 and there was no doubt a good deal of vanity and naive 
 pomposity, such as Horace records in the case of the 
 official at Fundi on his famous journey to Brundusium. 
 
 After the troublous years which followed the death of 
 Nero, Vespasian’s firm hand restored peace to Italy: and 
 many of the milestones were erected by him. 
 
 Even more was done by Trajan: and that there was 
 a general increase in prosperity in the early second century 
 A.D., which continued until the troublous times which 
 followed the fall of the Severi, is obvious from inscriptions 
 and other records, which show that the revival was general 
 all through Italy. That the district round Rome was 
 favourably affected seems clear from the fact that a very 
 large proportion of the remains of villas in the Campagna 
 can be assigned to that period by the consular dates on 
 the stamped bricks which are found in them. 
 
 There must, however, have been few parts of it which 
 were not occupied by the country residences of wealthy 
 Romans, by the parks and gardens connected with them, 
 or by cultivation. Of villages we find comparatively very 
 few, even in those times of well-being, except in the sur- 
 rounding hills: and even in the classical period we hear 
 that many of the old and famous cities of Latium had 
 fallen into decay, though in a good many cases there is 
 some poetical exaggeration in the contrast between their 
 former greatness and their comparative unimportance in 
 the writer’s own day. 
 
 In a.p. 292, when the land tax was introduced into 
 Italy, the first region of Augustus obtained the name of 
 provincia Campania. Later on the name Latium entirely 
 disappeared, and the name Campania extended as far as 
 Veii and the Via Aurelia, whence the mediaeval and modern 
 name Campagna di Roma. ) 
 
 It was only in the fourth and fifth centuries that here, 
 as elsewhere, the little positions of dignity which had 
 
 A5 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES — 
 
 given pleasure to those who held them, such as the election 
 to a seat in the municipal curia and the membership of 
 or the holding of some honour in a trade guild, began, 
 under the oppressive legislation of the Empire of that 
 period, to be an intolerable charge. The curiales began 
 
 to be heavily taxed, and the members of guilds and the — 
 
 cultivators found life so burdensome that they sought in 
 any way they could to escape—but the clutches of the 
 State were too strong for them. | 
 
 The donation made by Constantine to various churches 
 of Rome of numerous estates belonging to the patrimonium 
 Caesaris in the neighbourhood of Rome was of great 
 historical importance, as being the origin of the territorial 
 dominion of the Papacy. His example was followed by 
 others, so that the Church property in the Campagna 
 soon became considerable ; and from the seventh century 
 onwards, owing to the immunities and privileges which 
 the Church enjoyed, especially its freedom from the taxes 
 which weighed the Empire down, a certain revival of 
 prosperity occurred. The invasions of the barbarian 
 hordes, of course, produced a good deal of damage: but 
 the formation of centres (domuscultae) in the eighth and 
 
 ninth centuries was a fact of great importance—the — 
 
 inhabitants, indeed, formed the mediaeval militia of the 
 Papacy. Smaller centres (the colonia—often formed in 
 the remains of an ancient villa—the curtis or curia, the 
 castrum,* the casale) grew up later. We may note that, 
 
 owing to the growth of the Temporal Power, there was ; 
 
 never a dux Romae dependent on the Exarchate of Ravenna, 
 similar to those established by Narses in the other districts 
 of Italy. 
 
 The papal influence was also retained by means of the 
 
 suburban bishoprics, which took their rise as early as 
 
 the fourth and fifth centuries a.p. 
 The rise of the democratic Commune of Rome 2 about 
 
 1 Pratica is described in 1385 as castrum olim, nunc reducti ad 
 casale quod vocatur Patrica (Lanciani in Mon. Lincei, xiii. (1913) 178). 
 
 * The Commune of Rome as such seems to have been in existence 
 in 999 at least. 
 
 46 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 1148, and of the various trade corporations which we 
 already find in the early eleventh century, led to struggles 
 with the Papacy; the Commune of Rome made various 
 attempts to exercise supremacy in the Campagna, and 
 levied various taxes from the twelfth century until the 
 fifteenth. The Commune also tried to restrict the 
 power of the barons, who, in the thirteenth century 
 especially, though we find them feudatories of the Holy 
 See from the tenth century onwards, threatened to become 
 ' masters of the whole territory, which is still dotted over 
 _with their castles and towers. Their dominions can be 
 _ traced as following strategic lines, along the ancient roads, 
 _ to castles far outside the city, with intermediate fortified 
 _ posts. 
 
 A little later we find treaties between the barons and 
 _ the villages for the protection of the latter, which thus 
 | became dependent on the various great families, which 
 'did not begin to acquire generic titles (duke, prince, 
 | count) until the fourteenth century. 
 
 The feudal system in the Campagna did considerable 
 | damage from the economic point of view, and the wars 
 | and depredations of the barons were in large measure the 
 cause of its depopulation: but this in mediaeval times 
 | was less serious than in comparatively recent days. 
 | This is indicated by a list of the villages of the Campagna 
 | dating from the fourteenth century, and giving the 
 | amount of salt to be purchased by each village from the 
 ' Commune of Rome, which had a monopoly of the supply 
 | of salt from the marshes of Ostia. The population can 
 be inferred from this, and is found to be about equal 
 | to that of recent times, but was differently distributed, 
 | some of the smaller centres having disappeared at the 
 _ expense of the town. In the interval some of the smaller 
 ' centres have perished, while the towns have grown at 
 | their expense. We find Pope Sixtus IV, in a bull of 1476, 
 lamenting the preponderance of pasturage and attempting 
 | to revive agriculture. 
 
 | It is interesting to note that the depopulation of certain 
 | parts of the Campagna caused by the prevalence of malaria 
 47 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES — 
 
 was probably at its worst in the seventeenth and eighteenth ~ 
 centuries. We have, it is true, notices of malaria in the © 
 Middle Ages: and certainly from the accounts of the 
 hunting expeditions of the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- — 
 turies we know that there was more woodland, especially — 
 on the right bank of the Tiber, than at the present day. 
 The actual remains of mediaeval buildings in the 
 Campagna are numerous and important. It contains a | 
 large number of castles and towers. 2 
 The oldest castle is that of Grotta Marozza, on the 
 prolongation of the Via Nomentana, which belongs to the © 
 eleventh century: but the majority were erected in © 
 the thirteenth. Most of them have square towers, and 
 the round tower did not come into vogue until the 
 fifteenth century. The name Castelli Romani, applied to — 
 the villages of the Alban Hills, comes from the emigration — 
 in the fourteenth century from Rome to these villages, — 
 those inhabiting quarters of Rome belonging to the barons ~ 
 emigrating to the villages which were ren under | 
 their protection. : 
 The isolated towers, which are especially common, — 
 form indeed quite a feature of the landscape—a series of © 
 them follows the sea-coast (most of these were constructed — 
 or renewed in the time of Pius IV and Pius V). Others, — 
 inland, of earlier date (thirteenth and fourteenth centuries) — 
 were used as watch-towers and for signalling, as outposts — 
 to the various castles: while others, often situated on the — 
 highroads, marked the limits of the various jurisdictions— ~ 
 of bishops, convents and abbeys, of the Pope and the — 
 Commune, and of the barons: and others again guarded ~ 
 the valleys, preventing the passage along them. Many, ~ 
 too, are the country churches, the earliest of which date — 
 in origin from the third century, frequently bearing the 
 name of the religious body in Rome to which they belonged, 
 and the localities called after saints—S. Silvester being a — 
 name especially frequent in wooded hill-tops, and San ~ 
 Cesareo occurring in places where a villa or a cult of — 
 the Caesars had existed—so that the saints come to take 
 the place of the pagan deities. We often find the most 
 48. . 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 curious perversions of names little understood, which thus 
 became corrupted in common use. Some of the country 
 inns still mark the site of the Roman post-stations on the 
 highroads. 
 
 In the Middle Ages it was principally Ostia that was 
 ransacked for building material: though everywhere a 
 good deal of damage must have been done to the buildings 
 of the Campagna by the search for marble, both for burn- 
 ing into lime and for use elsewhere. Excavation for 
 works of art only began in the Renaissance—though that 
 did not mean that the damage ceased, but rather the 
 contrary. 
 
 In the Renaissance, it is true, falls the erection of many 
 fine villas in the neighbourhood of Rome—not only in 
 the hills round the Campagna but even in certain places 
 in the lower ground, e.g. those of Julius II at La Magliana 
 and of Cardinal Trivulzio at Salone, and these continued 
 
 _to be frequented until the end of the eighteenth century, 
 when the French Revolution dealt a fatal blow to the 
 prosperity of the Roman nobility. 
 
 The ‘“‘ modern ”’ period of the history of the Campagna 
 Romana begins with the sixteenth century. We may 
 note, among other points, the existence of vineyards at 
 
 various places in the nefghbourhood of Rome in the 
 - sixteenth century which have since entirely disappeared, 
 and the numerous large and imposing farmhouses con- 
 structed in the Campagna at the end of the seventeenth 
 century. It was then, as we have seen, that the worst 
 period in its history came, and it extended over the first 
 half at least, if not the whole, of the nineteenth century. 
 There was a flood of literature on the subject, but, except 
 for the draining of the Pomptine Marshes by Pius VI— 
 and that on a partially mistaken system—little that was 
 practical was done. But since the beginning of the 
 present century the growth of cultivation is most re- 
 markable, for now that the cause of malaria is known it 
 can effectively be prevented. The discovery, made in 
 1900, that it is propagated by the Anopheles claviger, a 
 mosquito which remains inactive by day, was epoch- 
 
 D — 49 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 making: it has rendered it possible to combat this scourge 
 (about the cause of which the most diverse theories had 
 previously been propounded) upon a definite plan. The 
 marshes where it breeds were drained, or the watercourses 
 accelerated—for the larvae cannot live in water that 
 runs at more than a mile an hour. The houses are pro- 
 tected by fine mosquito-proof wire-netting, and the water 
 supply is improved; while quinine, the great specific 
 both as a prophylactic and as a cure, is now sold cheaply 
 by the State. Much remains to be done, and many of 
 the more ignorant or careless will not adopt preventive 
 measures: but it was proved how effective these are 
 when rigorously applied at the British rest-camp at 
 Taranto during the war, where malaria was practically 
 eliminated. : 
 
 A law carried in 1908 for the improvement (Bonifica) 
 of the Agro Romano (the territory of the Commune of 
 Rome beyond the immediate outskirts of the city, which, 
 unlike that of most other cities, extends a long way out, 
 as far as the lower limits of the territory of the various 
 hill villages) compels the proprietors of land within a 
 radius of some 6 miles of the city to cultivate their lands 
 in a productive manner under penalty of expropriation : 
 and though until recent’ years it was not enforced with 
 any great stringency, it is now anything but a dead-letter, 
 and its results are very apparent. Towards the Alban 
 Hills especially there is now only a short interval—and 
 in some places none at all—between the cultivation 
 spreading outwards from Rome and that extending down- 
 wards from the hills. New farmhouses are springing up 
 everywhere, and the aspect of the Campagna has com- 
 pletely changed. Whereas twenty years ago the road 
 system resembled a starfish, the main roads being entirely 
 unconnected, it is now more like a spider’s web. 
 
 On the right bank of the Tiber is a much less fertile 
 district, where the older marine gravels have either not — 
 been covered at all by the later volcanic deposits, or these 
 have been removed by denudation. Probably in Roman — 
 times also population was much less dense and there — 
 50 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 were more forests. Here conditions have changed less : 
 and there will always be districts, even in the volcanic 
 area, where the rock comes so close to the surface that 
 the ground is not worth cultivating, and where a universal 
 measure of compulsion would be a mistake, and has indeed 
 been proved to be so in more than one case—as has the 
 - institution of fixed colonies of settlers. 
 
 The permanent population of the Campagna is increasing 
 rapidly. Under the conditions of thirty or forty years 
 ago the greater part of it was (and much still is) under 
 pasture, especially for sheep, which are little used for 
 eating (except the lambs), but are kept for their wool 
 and for their milk, out of which cheese (pecorino) and 
 ricotta (a kind of curds) are made. They are driven down 
 from the mountains in the autumn and back again in 
 the summer, a custom which in some parts of Italy (e.g. 
 in Apulia) goes back to Roman days—though probably 
 not in the Campagna, where land was then too valuable. 
 A large flock of sheep, with the large white dogs that 
 guard them, is one of the most picturesque sights that 
 can be imagined, led by the shepherds from the Abruzzi in 
 their goatskin leggings, with all their household gods on 
 mule-back or in carts: and not less picturesque are the 
 thatched conical huts in which they live. Other portions, 
 especially in or near the hills and towards the coast, are 
 given up to woodland—small timber, used either for stakes 
 for fencing, ete., or for charcoal-burning. Here, too, the 
 work is done by immigrants from other parts of Italy 
 —often from the mountains of Tuscany. 
 
 Even in 1914 more than half the territory of the Agro 
 Romano belonged to only forty-four proprietors, many 
 of whom worked, and still work, through mercanti di 
 campagna, whose interests were purely commercial and in 
 no sense philanthropic. But the spread of civilising agencies 
 such as schools, the prosperity which the war brought to the 
 agricultural classes, who were able to sell their produce 
 at a good price, and the higher standard of living to 
 which they have since become accustomed—it is remarkable 
 
 how much more meat is eaten than before, especially by 
 51 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 those who as soldiers became used to a meat ration— 
 have brought great changes. The spread of motor transit 
 and of motor traction has had a very great influence, 
 too—what were remote districts are now easily accessible, 
 even to the poor, by means of motor-omnibuses: and 
 motor-ploughs have done their share in bringing fresh 
 land under cultivation and in reducing the archaeologist to 
 despair—for they have the strength to pulverise such 
 ancient remains as may lie in their way, so that all that 
 is left is a sprinkling of fragments of brick and mortar 
 on the surface of the ground. 
 
 The hill districts are very fertile—the bare limestone 
 slopes of the Sabine mountains give way below Tivoli 
 to gentle declivities where olive-trees centuries old flourish, 
 and where grapes (especially the pointed pizzutelli, which 
 are used for eating) grow well. The Alban Hills produce 
 a great deal of wine, both red and white—very palatable, 
 but not made carefully enough to travel nor to keep 
 long, so that in an abundant year there is often over- 
 production—as well as grain, vegetables, and fruit; while 
 the upper slopes are clad with woods, which are cut every 
 eighteen or twenty years, like those in the Campagna, but, 
 being largely chestnut, run toa greater height than the dwarf 
 oaks, etc., of the lower ground. 
 
 Professor Tomassetti, in his book already quoted, appeals 
 more than once, with justice and good reason, to the 
 proprietors and inhabitants of the Roman Campagna, to 
 _ Show more respect for the ruins and memorials of antiquity, 
 which are still so plentiful. He cites a case—and I could 
 cite many more—of inexcusable and unnecessary vandal- 
 ism, all the more deplorable inasmuch as every element 
 which can help us in the reconstruction of the classical 
 and mediaeval conditions of the Campagna is of the 
 greatest value. That much must perish is inevitable: 
 cultivation spreads rapidly, and discovery and destruction 
 are almost simultaneous—I have, indeed, recorded my 
 belief that the next fifty years may see a complete change 
 in the economic conditions of the Campagna—but much 
 can and should be preserved. In the meantime it is well 
 52 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 that attention should be directed to the accurate observa- 
 tion of what will soon disappear; and what Professor 
 Tomassetti has done for the Middle Ages (though his work 
 is by no means restricted to that) others are doing for 
 the classical period. Those who have studied the Cam- 
 pagna can testify to the intense pleasure and delight that 
 it gives to wander there—and can also bear witness from 
 their own experience that, while criticism of others may 
 be easy, to arrive at completeness, so as to satisfy oneself 
 that one’s work is exhaustive, is quite impossible. 
 
 53 
 
I 
 
 THE ROADS LEADING TO 
 THE SABINE COUNTRY 
 AND THE APENNINES 
 
 I. THE VIA SALARIA 
 II. THE VIA NOMENTANA 
 lI. THE VIA TIBURTINA 
 
: 
 
 I 
 
 | PRELIMINARY NOTE 
 
 HE ROADS OF THE FIRST GROUP, until they reach 
 
 : the Apennines, lead at first through a fairly easy 
 and undulating country—at present rather sparsely 
 inhabited and cultivated. Both the Via Salaria and the 
 
 Via Tiburtina (the latter after Tibur acquiring the name 
 
 of Via Valeria) pierce the barrier of limestone mountains 
 which lies on the east of the lower volcanic district of the 
 Campagna, the former following a wide and not very 
 lofty depression among the surrounding hills, which 
 eventually takes it over to the plain of Reate, on the 
 borders of Sabina and Umbria; while the latter, after 
 passing Tibur, the key to the upper Anio valley, follows 
 this for some way, and then ascends rather steeply out 
 of it to a high-lying upland plain, and then climbs still 
 further, crossing more than one high pass in its journey 
 across the peninsula. 
 
 The Via Nomentana, on the other hand, never became 
 more than a road of local importance; but the district 
 between it and the Via Tiburtina, like the immediate 
 environs of Tibur, was a favourite resort of the Romans ; 
 and this was especially so where it came close under 
 the shelter of the lofty mountain barrier and into 
 the region of the little group of conical hills known in 
 ancient times as the Montes Corniculani. Here, in the 
 ealcareous soil, fruit-trees flourish better than the vine ; 
 and the almond and cherry blossom in the spring is a 
 delight to behold. This district was served both by it 
 and by a branch road of the Via Tiburtina. The district 
 close to the Tiber, on the other hand, is of considerably 
 less interest, and was less favoured in antiquity. The 
 
 57 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES — 
 
 southern boundary of the district is the Anio, and the 
 region between the two rivers is referred to as [Isola 
 (the Island) in the maps of the sixteenth century. We 
 must, however, overstep this boundary in the last part 
 of our survey, when we reach the neighbourhood of Tibur, 
 in order to include not only the town itself but the villa 
 of Hadrian in the lower country, and that line of other 
 villas higher up on the olive-clad slopes facing towards 
 Rome in an open situation, looking out to the sunset and 
 the sea, with an uninterrupted view of the Campagna— 
 the Tibur Superbum of which Vergil speaks. 
 
 58 
 
I 
 
 THE VIA SALARIA 
 
 one of the oldest of Roman roads. Not only were 
 
 Antemnae and Fidenae among the earliest con- 
 quests of Rome in Latium: but its name is said by our 
 classical authorities to be derived from the fact that it 
 was the route used by the Sabines who came to fetch 
 salt from the marshes at the mouth of the Tiber, and we 
 may notice that it never changed throughout history. 
 | It also followed a natural route along the river valley for 
 ‘a considerable way until, at the site of the ancient Eretum, 
 it entered the hills. 
 | he Via Salaria left Rome by the Porta Collina of the 
 | Servian wall, remains of which were found in 1872 on the 
 site of the N.W. angle of the Finance Ministry. Im- 
 mediately outside this the Via Nomentana diverged to 
 the right, while the Via Salaria, after less than a quarter 
 of a mile, reached its gate in the Aurelian wall, the Porta 
 Salaria. This gate, which belonged to the time of 
 _ Aurelian, had been restored by Honorius, and had two 
 semi-circular towers. It was seriously damaged in the 
 _ bombardment of September 20, 1870. Its remains were 
 accordingly removed, and under the towers were found 
 some interesting tombs. That on the right had concealed 
 | the monument of the boy Q. Sulpicius Maximus. The 
 gate was then entirely reconstructed, and this purely 
 modern building, which preserved nothing even of the 
 ancient lines, has recently been removed. Its only title 
 - to interest was that one of its side-passages gave shelter 
 to one of the last, if not the very last, of the public letter- 
 writers of the modern city. 
 
 63374 
 
 sk VIA SALARIA is, as we have seen, necessarily 
 
 59 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES © 
 
 As to the initial portion of the road a difficult point is 
 raised by the catalogues of Christian cemeteries, which j 
 take us back to the fourth century. In these we find the _ 
 
 Via Salaria Vetus distinguished from the Via Salaria 
 (Nova).1 The Nova is undoubtedly the straight road 
 from the Porta Collina to the Porta Salaria of the Aurelian 
 wall, and so on along the line followed by the modern 
 road; but as to the Vetus there is more question. De 
 Rossi (Bull. Crist. 1894, 6 sqqg.) makes it diverge from 
 the Nova at the Porta Collina, identifying it with a road 
 which passes under the Aurelian wall (which blocked its 
 course completely) between the second and third towers 
 to the W. of the Porta Salaria, and thence ran up to the 
 Bivio del Leoncino, at the E. angle of the Villa Borghese. 
 He then makes it follow the Via dei Parioli, the line of 
 which is represented by the new Via Giovanni Paisello, 
 sending off a branch from near the Bivio to join the 
 Salaria Nova. Subsequent discoveries have proved him 
 right, and the course of the road has been exactly deter- 
 mined.* The three cemeteries which the catalogues men- 
 tion as existing along its course are, that of Pamphilus, 
 that of S. Hermes, or of Basilla, and a: third called “ad 
 Septem Palumbas,” “ad caput S. Iohannis,” or “ad 
 Clivum Cucumeris,” the first and second of which have 
 been discovered, the former near the point of divergence 
 of the Via Nicola Porpora, the latter in a vineyard now 
 belonging to the German College, rather further along, 
 on the S.W. side of the road. The third has not yet 
 been found, but must be upon the descent (in which traces 
 of the ancient paving have been seen 3) to the N.W. of 
 the cemetery of S. Hermes. 
 
 1 This addition is now generally made for convenience, though 
 it does not occur in the catalogues. 
 
 * Josi in Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana, i. (1924) 19 sqq. 
 
 8 The old Vicolo delle Tre Madonne, the Vicolo dell’ Arco Oscuro 
 (both of which diverge S.S.W. from this road), and the cross road 
 connecting them N.E. of the Villa di Papa Giulio are all, probably, 
 of ancient origin, as are, indeed, all the lanes in this district (Bull. 
 
 Com. 1891, 144), which has in recent years been much altered by 
 building operations. 
 
THE VIA SALARIA 
 
 If, however, we follow this descent we arrive at the 
 foot of the Monti Parioli, not far from the Ponte Molle; 
 and if we accept the name of Via Salaria Vetus for this 
 road we must, if we wish to press the meaning of the 
 name for the whole road, either suppose that it pursued 
 a winding course (of which no traces are known) along 
 the flat known ground to the W. and N. of Antemnae 
 to reach the crossing of the Anio, or else abandon any 
 attempt to connect it with the line of the road as we 
 know it. And I think the name may be otherwise 
 explained. 
 
 In the fourth century the closing of this road, along 
 which a very large number of tombs existed, by the con- 
 struction of the wall of Aurelian, would still be remembered ; 
 and this might have given rise to its being called vetus 
 without our being obliged to suppose that it represents 
 the original course of the road. 
 
 Immediately outside the gate, to the W. of the road, 
 began one of the most extensive cemeteries of ancient 
 Rome, in which thousands of tombs have been found in 
 the last two centuries. The majority of them belong to 
 the lower orders, and many of them are small chambers 
 containing a number of urns for the ashes of the dead, 
 and known as columbaria from the resemblance of the 
 niches (to which the name strictly belongs, though it is in 
 practice now used for the whole structure, which in ancient 
 times was called monuwmentum) to those of a dovecot. 
 This method of disposal of the remains of the dead came 
 into vogue at the end of the Republican period, and went 
 out of use about the beginning of the third century after 
 Christ. Several columbaria belonging to the end of the 
 Republican and the beginning of the Imperial period were 
 found, in a very fine state of preservation, during the 
 closing years of last century on the site of the Carmelite 
 monastery of S. Teresa, on the Corso d’ Italia. They 
 were arranged, as if they had been the houses of the 
 living, in four rows, separated by three narrow roads, 
 running parallel to an ancient road which is by some 
 identified with the Via Salaria Vetus. Subsequent build- 
 
 61 
 
/ 
 
 THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES : 
 
 ing operations have shown that this huge necropolis — 
 
 extended as far as Via Po. It has unfortunately been — 
 
 impossible to preserve any of these tombs in situ. 
 Important mausolea are rare, though a striking excep- 
 
 tion is formed by the fine round mausoleum of Lucilius 
 
 : 
 
 Paetus in the Vigna Bertone (C.J.L. vi. 82982). It — 
 
 consists of a circular base, 84 metres in diameter, of 
 
 ove 
 
 blocks of travertine, which encloses a mass of earth upon 
 which a conical mound was probably placed. The sepul- — 
 chral chamber was perhaps transformed into a Christian © 
 
 burying-place late in the fourth century (Marucchi, Cata- 
 
 combs, 888 n. 1). Here and elsewhere the tombs of the — 
 
 second and third centuries A.D. lie at a much higher level, 
 
 and Professor Lanciani conjectures (Pagan and Christian © 
 
 Rome, 284) that the earth which Trajan excavated for 
 the construction of his Forum was dumped here. 
 
 A cippus of the pomerium as enlarged by Claudius 
 was found (whether im situ or not we do not know) in 
 
 the Vigna Naro in 1738, at about 300 metres from the — 
 
 Porta Salaria (C.J.L. vi. 81537c); and a cippus of 
 the octroi line of Marcus Aurelius was copied “‘in Via 
 
 Salaria ’? by the Anonymus Einsiedlensis. If Lanciani’s | 
 
 conjecture, that the wall of Aurelian followed the octroi — 
 
 line, is correct, it must originally have stood close to 
 the gate (Bull. Com. 1892, 94). On the E. of the road 
 
 there seem to have been hardly any tombs. A road goes — 
 
 off to join the Via Nomentana (the Vicolo della Fontana), 
 
 forming the boundary of the Villa Albani, which very — 
 likely follows an ancient line (Lanciani, Forma Urbis, 3, — 
 after Bufalini). Its course is uncertain for a while; it. 
 
 may have fallen into the Via Nomentana at the first 
 kilometre, but it seems more probable that it went straight 
 on, its line being taken up again by the Vicolo degli 
 Alberoni, in the boundary walls of which there were 
 several paving-stones, and which seems to have followed 
 an old line; and that it then went on through the valley 
 and joined the cross-road known as the Vicolo di S. Agnese. 
 Remains of Roman villas are scanty in this district, and 
 Lanciani (Bull. Com. 1891, 147) cautions his readers that 
 62 
 
 st 
 4 
 
 * 
 
THE VIA SALARIA 
 
 many of the architectural fragments to be seen in the 
 vineyards are not of local provenance. 
 
 The cutting of the Via Po and the widening of the 
 Via Salaria itself in connexion with the construction of a 
 large new quarter have transformed the district almost 
 beyond recognition: but after crossing the Viale dei 
 Parioli, a little beyond which would fall the site of the 
 first ancient milestone, the road preserves for about 
 another mile the features which were characteristic of 
 all the roads running out of Rome up till our own day. 
 It is still a narrow cobble-paved road confined between 
 high walls, over which are seen the trees of the villas 
 which flank it, while gateways afford occasional glimpses 
 of their gardens. On the left, after the Villa Grazioli, 
 comes the Villa Savoia, the new Royal villa, the grounds 
 of which extend as far as the confines of the fort of 
 Antemnae. On the right was the old Villa Falconieri, 
 part of the garden of which is still preserved. 
 
 A little further on the Vicolo di S. Agnese, a lane which 
 almost certainly represents an ancient road, goes off at 
 _ tight angles in a straight line to the Via Nomentana, 
 
 reaching it close to the church of S. Agnese. Just beyond 
 it the road turns N. and begins to descend through a cut- 
 ting, which has been considerably enlarged in modern 
 times, to the valley of the Anio. On the left is the 
 entrance to the catacombs of Priscilla. To the right is 
 the Villa Chigi, which still preserves its fine garden. 
 
 A little further on, and still on the left of the road, is 
 the hill, now crowned by a fort, once occupied by the 
 primitive village of Antemnae, said to have been conquered 
 by Romulus. The meaning of the name is explained 
 as ““ante amnem, i.e. Anienem,’’ by Varro, L.L. v. 28, 
 inasmuch as it stands at the point where the Anio falls 
 into the Tiber, thus occupying a position of great strength. 
 Plutarch (Sulla, 30) mentions it in connexion with the 
 battle of the Porta Collina in 82 B.c. in such a manner as 
 to indicate that it was not far from the city. Strabo 
 mentions it, with Collatia, Fidenae, and Labici, as amongst 
 the old fortified towns near Rome which had in his time 
 
 —- 63 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES — 
 
 become mere villages, some 80 stadia (4 miles) or a little 
 more from Rome (v. 3. 2, p. 230), and Pliny (N.H. iii. 68) 
 names it among the cities of Latium which had disappeared 
 in his day. The indications given by our ancient authori- 
 ties are sufficiently clear to make the identification certain, 
 and there has never been any real doubt as to the site: 
 while absolute certainty was brought by the excavations 
 in connexion with the construction of the fort in 1882-86 
 
 (Lanciani, Ruins and Excavations, 111), when the remains — 
 
 of the primitive city were discovered. Some traces of — 
 
 walling were found both on the N. and S., at two points 
 where the existence of gates is probable (Nibby, Analisi, 
 i. 161, supposes that there were four gates in all, but 
 
 Lanciani admits three only), built in somewhat irregular — 
 
 opus quadratum of blocks of capellaccio (an inferior 
 variety of tufa), not very carefully squared, 0°89 m. in 
 length on an average, and 0-59 in height (Ruins and 
 Excavations, cit.). Remains of the foundations of huts 
 were also discovered, and a good deal of local pottery, 
 
 corresponding to that found in the earlier strata of the — 
 
 Ksquiline necropolis, with a considerable admixture of j 
 
 Etruscan bucchero and Graeco-Chalcidian ware; and 
 there were (so it is said) even a few sporadic objects of 
 the Stone Age. 
 
 The water supply of the city was well cared for: 
 besides the springs at the foot of the hill on the N., there 
 were several wells and a cistern within the circuit of the 
 walls. One of the former is no less than 54 feet deep, 
 while the cistern (Ruins and Excavations, Fig. 48), destroyed 
 soon after its discovery, was of great interest. 
 
 The N. portion of the site was later on occupied by a 
 villa at the end of the Republican or commencement of 
 the Imperial period, considerable remains of which were 
 found, among them a cistern divided into three chambers. 
 Two brick stamps of the first century a.p. (C.I.L. xv. 
 670b, 864) were found loose near these ruins. On the 
 K. side some burials under tiles were discovered, dating 
 perhaps from the time of the abandonment of the villa: 
 the coins found with the bodies were illegible. Two 
 64 
 
THE VIA SALARIA 
 
 inscribed cippi were also found in use in the repairs of the 
 villa itself. ) 
 
 The comparison which Professor Lanciani makes and 
 develops between Antemnae and the early city on the 
 Palatine is interesting and important, and it is a pity 
 that military exigencies rendered it impossible to explore 
 the site thoroughly, and to preserve the remains which 
 were discovered. I do not know even where the pottery 
 that was found is kept. 
 
 The hills on both sides of the road just above the Anio 
 valley, the hills on the right after the crossing over the 
 Anio, and the flat ground in the valleys both of the Anio 
 and the Tiber, must have afforded the brick-earth which 
 was used in the kilns of the Via Salaria. These were of 
 considerable importance in Roman times, but have since 
 then fallen out of use, and have no modern representatives, 
 whereas the less important brick-fields of the Via Nomen- 
 tana are still represented by a kiln near the bridge of 
 that road over the Anio. 
 
 The Ponte Salario by which the road crosses the Anio 
 has been thrice destroyed in comparatively recent times, 
 and little of the ancient structure now remains except 
 the greater portion of the small arches on each side. It 
 was cut in 1849 for a length of 15 metres by the French 
 in their attack on Rome (Rapport de la Commission Miate 
 pour constater les dégdts, etc. (Paris, 1850), 42). A photo- 
 graph of it after it was blown up in 1867 is given in Lanci- 
 ani’s Destruction of Ancient Rome, p. 149, fig. 26. Canina 
 (Edifizi, vi. tay. 178) gives views of it. It had one central 
 arch and two smaller side-arches of tufa with voussoirs 
 of travertine. The parapets, which were thrown into the 
 river in 1798, bore the inscription of Narses, who restored 
 the bridge under Justinian in a.p. 565 1 (C.I.L. vi. 1199). 
 
 1 Nibby, op. cit., ii. 594, cites Procopius, Bell. Goth. iii. 24, fin., 
 as stating that Narses destroyed all the bridges over the Anio ; 
 but the passage runs: ‘“‘ Totila and the barbarians, having raised 
 the siege, came to Tibur, after having destroyed almost all the 
 bridges over the Tiber, so that the Romans could not easily attack 
 
 them. But one bridge, which is named the Milvian, they were in no 
 way able to destroy, because it was the nearest to the city.” It 
 
 E - 65 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 On the left of the road a little beyond the bridge is 
 a large tomb of tufa concrete (the facing of rectangular 
 blocks of stone has disappeared) with a chamber in the 
 form. of a Greek cross and a mediaeval tower above. The 
 staff map marks ruins on the right also, but the loose 
 blocks in the field at this point belong to the old bridge. 
 
 From the Ponte Salario the modern highroad follows 
 the Tiber as far as the railway station of Passo Correse, 
 keeping clear of the hills which flank it on the E., and 
 hardly ever changing in level. No traces of pavement 
 have, so far as I know, been discovered except in 1889, 
 when a few paving-stones were found in a hole made 
 below Villa Spada for a telegraph-pole along the railway 
 (Not. Scav. 1889, 110). The ancient road, therefore, kept 
 more under the hills than the modern, as the remains of 
 tombs indicate, but the level was much the same. West- 
 phal (Rémische Kampagne, 127, 128) remarks that there 
 are no traces of the old road along the modern one except 
 in places, up to the sixteenth mile, large paving-stones 
 of limestone ; and remains of ancient buildings are com- 
 paratively scanty. This fact has considerably complicated 
 the difficult problem as to the exact point at which the 
 ancient Via Salaria left the river valley. 
 
 On the right of the road, close to the Torre Boschetto, 
 are some remains in opus reticulatum, belonging probably 
 to a villa. The Torre Serpentara does not seem to rest 
 upon ancient foundations; no traces, at least, are at 
 present to be seen, the brickwork of the lower part of 
 the tower being mediaeval ; and there are no other remains 
 to be seen until we arrive at Fidenae. 
 certainly looks, however, as if Procopius had here, as in iii. 10 
 (where he says that Tibur lay on the Tiber about 120 stadia (15 
 miles)—a rough measurement—from Rome, so that Totila’s occupa- 
 tion of it prevented the Romans from bringing provisions down 
 by river from Tuscany !), confused the Anio with the Tiber. The 
 Pons Milvius is, of course, the bridge by which the Via Flaminia 
 crosses the Tiber, and there was no bridge across the Tiber above 
 it until the Via Flaminia recrossed it near Otricoli, nor any bridge 
 below it, except those actually within the city of Rome. Besides, 
 it would have been the bridges over the Anio which it was important 
 
 to destroy. 
 66 
 
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 To face p, 67. 
 
THE VIA SALARIA 
 
 Fidenae had very considerable importance in the early 
 wars with Veii as commanding both the route up and 
 down the Tiber valley and the bridgehead. Its site has 
 been a good deal discussed ;_ but, despite what I said in 
 the Papers,’ I am now convinced that it would have been 
 impossible to leave so strong a site as Castel Giubileo 
 unoccupied. It commands both the crossing of the Tiber 
 and the passage along the valley; and the fact that the 
 road passed between the citadel and the village—if an 
 historic Fidenae was really so large as to extend over 
 the hills to the E. as well—is not an insurmountable 
 obstacle, and might indeed render it still easier to block 
 the passage. The hill is crowned by a mediaeval farm. 
 house which takes its name not from any papal jubilee 
 but from the family of the Giubilei (Fig. 1). 
 
 The existence of tombs (if such they be) cut in the low 
 tufa cliffs N. of the Villa Spada, on the hill above the E. 
 edge of the railway, even if they are to be assigned to 
 pre-Roman times, does not suffice to determine exactly the 
 site of the earliest settlement. We know, on the other 
 hand, that the Roman village of Imperial days, which 
 grew out of the post-station, lay at the foot of the Villa 
 Spada hill. 
 
 The accounts of its desolation are probably to some 
 extent exaggerated: Cicero (De Leg. Agr. ii. 35. 96) speaks 
 of it as almost deserted, classing it with Labici and Col- 
 latia; Strabo mentions it with Collatia and Antemnae 
 as an old town, the site of which had then passed into 
 private hands; Horace (Epist. i. 11. 8) and Juvenal 
 (vi. 57, x. 100) scorn it as the type of desolation, 
 ranking it with Gabii, which, however, enjoyed a certain 
 amount of prosperity under the Empire (cf. Papers, i. 188). 
 We hear, too, of the collapse of a temporary amphitheatre 
 at Fidenae in a.p. 27, in which many thousand persons 
 perished—Suetonius (Z'%b. 40) puts the number of killed 
 at 20,000, Tacitus (Ann. iv. 63) the_total number of 
 casualties at 50,000. Most of the spectators must, it is 
 true, have come from Rome: and the structure wa 
 : 1 Op. cit., 17 sqq. 
 
 67 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 probably erected on the flat ground by the river for 
 convenience. | 
 
 We first reach the Roman post-station, which must 
 have possessed a certain importance. Close to the road 
 in 1889 was found the actual curia* of the village—a_ 
 hall facing W., the back wall of which was formed by the 
 rock itself, cut perpendicularly and cemented ; while the 
 W. wall had an arch formed by two pilasters and two 
 columns. It was decorated with marble, and on the 
 pavement lay a marble base, which no doubt supported 
 a statue, with a dedication to M. Aurelius by the Senatus 
 Fidenatium, made during the lifetime of Antoninus Pius 
 (a.p. 140), and some fragments of other inscriptions and 
 parts of two statues. The “ Casale di Villa Spada,” the 
 farmhouse immediately to the S. of the hill, was also built 
 upon a portion of a brick edifice of the Roman period. 
 It has now, however, been completely destroyed. 
 
 Two other inscriptions of which we have record were 
 probably found in the curia. 
 
 The first (C.I.L. xiv. 4057) is a dedication of unknown 
 date (some time early in the second century) to the Numen 
 Domus Augustae of a building or statue which was restored 
 by the Senate after a fire (the place and date of its dis- 
 covery are unknown); and the other (ib., 4058) is a dedi- 
 cation to Gallienus (in which the two chief magistrates 
 of the place still bear the title of dictator) by the Senate 
 itself, found in 1767 “‘ near the Villa Spada.” 
 
 The village cannot have extended far to the N. of the 
 curia, for there would have been no space for it at 
 the foot of the hills; and, besides, about 100 yards to the 
 N. of it (or rather more), just below the Villa Spada itself, 
 a tomb was discovered in 1889, when the railway line 
 was doubled, consisting of two chambers cut in the rock, 
 the outer of which had a mosaic floor, while upon the 
 architrave over the doorway leading to the inner chamber, 
 which can still be seen on the edge of the line, was the 
 inscription “ Ti(berio) Apronio Apollon flilio) Fab(ia) 
 1 Its site is indicated on the map a little to the S.W. of the 
 
 F. of Fidenae (but cf. Ephemeris Dacoromana, ii. 434). 
 68 
 
THE VIA SALARIA 
 
 Apollonio hic sepultus est.” From this inscription we 
 learn for the first time the tribe to which Fidenae belonged. 
 
 The summit of the hill has been occupied by a villa of 
 the Imperial period, of which an open water reservoir is 
 the most conspicuous portion remaining. 
 
 The next hill to the N. is the site selected by some 
 authors for the city of Fidenae. Nibby (Analisi, ii. 61) 
 notices the abundance of fragments of pottery (which I 
 was unable to find), some remains in opus reticulatum 
 near the S.W. angle of the plateau, and a subterranean 
 passage cut in the rock (indicated also by Dennis, Citves 
 and Cemeteries of Etruria, i. 48, and D on plan), which 
 has been explored by Tomassetti (op. cit., 78), who found 
 it to lead to a reservoir with several branches and vertical 
 shafts communicating with the upper air, of a type 
 common in the Roman Campagna. The entrance is 
 round-headed, about 5 feet high and a foot and a half in 
 width, and looks like the exit of a drain. 
 
 Close by Dennis indicates a large cave (E), now closed 
 by a gate, but which, according to him, has several rami- 
 fications (to the N.E. of which is a shaft such as Tomas- 
 setti describes, one side of which has been quarried 
 away), and a tomb (G), and on the W. side of the hill 
 above the railway are several more tombs. 
 
 Just beyond the site of the sixth milestone a modern 
 road goes off to a new iron bridge over the Tiber. In 
 making the road remains of a building of the second 
 century after Christ were discovered, including two well- 
 preserved bathrooms heated by hypocausts. 
 
 About half a mile beyond Castel Giubileo is the Fosso 
 della Buffalotta, and on the N. of it the Casale di Sette 
 
 1 It may be noticed in passing that the tombs he indicates above 
 the Casale di Villa Spada are no longer visible—perhaps owing to 
 the fall of the rock. Some damage has very likely occurred to the 
 tombs—though not at all recently as far as one can tell—from 
 quarrying. Lanciani (Storia degli Scavi, i. 205) mentions the letting 
 of a quarry near Castel Giubileo in 1521. But the quarries date 
 from ancient times, and are mentioned by Vitruvius (ii. 71) and 
 Pliny (N.H. xxxvi. 167) as producing soft stone. The same stone 
 is found near Prima Porta. It is full of cinders, and is not of a very 
 good quality (Tenney Frank, Roman Buildings of the Republic, 17). 
 
 ' 69 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 Bagni, between which and the railway are various remains. 
 On the E. edge of the railway, behind a signalman’s house, 
 are the concrete foundation walls (preserved to a con- 
 siderable height) of a large villa, and further up remains 
 in opus reticulatum. Further towards the E. are two 
 water reservoirs, situated close to the casale. To the 
 EK. of the casale are large caves ; and here Dennis (op. cit., 
 50) places the chief necropolis of Fidenae. Further to 
 the N.E. on the top of the hill is a large reservoir, with 
 at least three chambers, each measuring 10°9 by 2°5 
 metres inside, and connected by openings placed slightly 
 on the skew to one another, so as to reduce the pressure, 
 as in the so-called Sette Sale at Rome (really a reservoir 
 belonging to the Golden House of Nero). The hill is 
 bounded on the N. by the Fosso di Malpasso, which is 
 joined by the Fosso della Buffalotta just to the E. of 
 the road which crosses them both by the Ponte di Malpasso. 
 The bridge consisted until 1832 of remains of three periods 
 —opus quadratum of tufa of the original structure, a 
 brick arch with a double ring of brickwork, the stamps in 
 which dated from a.p. 126-129, and an arch of com- 
 paratively modern date. A view is given (Nibby, Analisi, 
 i. 129) by Guattani, Mon. Sabini, i. tav. 2 (opp. p. 438). 
 
 The identification of the stream with the Allia (Nibby 
 seems to refer rather to the Fosso della Buffalotta, the 
 more important of the two) seems doubtful, inasmuch as 
 the distance from Rome is insufficient. A mile from 
 this point, according to Gell and Nibby, the ancient Via 
 Salaria left the valley of the Tiber and ran towards Nomen- 
 tum. ‘The theory is, however, a very improbable one, and 
 is conditioned by the desire to place Eretum at Grotta 
 Marozza. The road which they indicate as the Via Salaria 
 is in all probability a mere deverticulum (Hulsen and 
 Lindner, Alliaschlacht, 20 n. 8). 
 
 We may notice that the Tabula Peutingerana makes 
 a branch go to the right from Fidenae to Nomentum 
 and join the Via Nomentana there. This may be what 
 Nibby considers the original Via Salaria (Desjardins, Tab. 
 Peut., 176). 
 
 70 
 
THE VIA SALARIA 
 
 A mile or more further on the Casale Marcigliana rises 
 on a hill above the road. No traces of antiquity are 
 visible there at present, except for a plain marble sarco- 
 phagus in the courtyard; but Nibby (op. cit., li. 303) 
 saw a sepulchral cippus with the inscription C.J.L. xiv. 
 4065 (now in the Lateran), and several architectural 
 fragments. 
 
 Beyond Casale Marcigliana no traces of antiquity are 
 visible for some distance, except for a well-preserved 
 reservoir at the Torretta or Marcigliana Vecchia, the path 
 leading to which from the E.S.E. very likely follows the 
 line of an ancient road. 
 
 The Allia, from which the terrible defeat which the 
 Romans suffered at the hands of the Gauls in 390 B.c. 
 took its name, has been rightly identified by Hulsen and 
 Lindner, following Westphal (Rémische Kampagne, 127), 
 Gell (Topography of Rome and its Vicinity, 43) and Kiepert, 
 with the Fosso Bettina; both Livy (v. 37) and Plutarch 
 (Com. 18) place it at about 11 miles from Rome, and 
 the former speaks of the stream as “‘ Crustuminis montibus 
 praealto defluens alveo.”’ But the two full accounts of 
 the battle which we have—that of Livy and that of 
 Diodorus (v. 114)—differ with regard to the site of 
 the battle, the former putting it on the left, the 
 latter on the right bank of the Tiber. The question 
 of the relative value of the two accounts has been much 
 debated. Hiilsen and Lindner (op. cit.), after a careful 
 study of the ground, decided in favour of Diodorus, 
 as Mommsen had already done (Hermes, xii. 515 = Rom. 
 Forsch., ii. 297), but their view has not been accepted 
 by Pais (Storia di Roma, i. 281, n. 1) nor by Richter 
 (Beitrage zur rém. Topogr. i. Alliaschlacht und Servius- 
 mauer), nor by Kromayer, the latest and the best authority 
 on the subject. Richter insists strongly on the fact of 
 the impregnability of Rome from an attack delivered by 
 an enemy on the right bank opposite the city, owing to 
 the difficulty of crossing the river. It is this fact which, 
 according to him, explains the importance of Fidenae 
 in the early wars between Rome and Veli; even admitting, 
 
 71 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 as he does, that the repeated defections and recapture of 
 Fidenae are by no means all to be accepted as historical 
 events, he regards it as the key to the position in all this 
 warfare, inasmuch as it was near it that the Veientines, 
 descending the valley of the Cremera, would naturally 
 cross the river. He explains the flight of that portion 
 of the Roman army which escaped to Veii (and not to 
 Rome) by the fact that the Gauls had already cut off 
 the passage to the city—which, even if the river did not 
 run closer to the foot of the hills than it does now, is 
 quite conceivable: while the absence of any effort on 
 their part to relieve Rome may have been due to the 
 difficulty already pointed out of crossing the river near 
 the city and to the smallness of their numbers. Kromayer 
 points out, too, that the ground on the left bank suits 
 Livy’s description of the battle perfectly. It is not a 
 little curious that the Romans should have made the 
 same mistake then as Maxentius did, centuries later, 
 when he was defeated by Constantine, in occupying a 
 hill with a steep descent behind them, so that when they 
 had once given way recovery was impossible. 
 
 A little to the S. of the railway station a path ascends 
 to Monte Rotondo, which very likely follows an ancient 
 line. At Monte Rotondo it may have forked, one branch 
 going to Mentana, another to join the prolongation of 
 the Via Nomentana, though there are no certain traces 
 of antiquity on either. The town occupies a fine position 
 on a hill, but there is no reason for supposing that the 
 site is that of an ancient city—Eretum certainly was not 
 situated here, as Raphael Volaterranus (i. 54) and other 
 authors (Cluver, Italia antiqua, p. 667, and, apparently, if 
 silence gives consent, Holste) have supposed; for, as 
 Dessau (C.I.L. xiv. 489) points out, it is by no means at 
 the right distance from Rome. Nor can Gell’s identifi- 
 cation of the site with that of Crustumerium (op. cit., 190) 
 be defended. Several sepulchral inscriptions have, not 
 unnaturally, been collected in and near the town (C.J.L. 
 xlv. 8982-3939), though only Nos. 8988-3939 seem to 
 be still preserved, but none of them presents features 
 72 
 
 ae ae 
 
THE VIA SALARIA 
 
 of any interest and their provenance is in no case 
 certain. 
 
 The road running due N. from Monte Rotondo probably 
 
 —in fact almost certainly—follows an ancient line, 
 though no actual traces of paving are to be seen. A 
 large bridge with twelve arches, belonging to an aqueduct, 
 on the W. of it, half-way to La Mola, does not seem to 
 be ancient: there are, on the other hand, remains of a 
 villa on the E. of it, just before it descends into the valley. 
 At La Mola traces of antiquity are absent. It seems prob- 
 able, however, that it was here that the road we have 
 been following fell into the Via Salaria, which left the 
 valley of the Tiber at the Osteria del Grillo, about 16 
 miles from the Porta Collina. The sixteenth milestone 
 of the road was found on the river bank in 1909. 
 - The question is intimately connected with that as to 
 the site of Eretum, which must be sought 14 miles from 
 Fidenae (Tab. Peut.), i.e. 19 miles from Rome, or 18 miles 
 from Rome (Itin. Ant.). 
 
 Strabo (v. 8, i. p. 228) irestect it as a Sabine village 
 situated above the Tiber at the point where the Via 
 Nomentana joins the Via Salaria, and not far from the 
 Aquae Labanae (cf. ib., ii. p. 288). Vergil speaks of it 
 in the Aeneid (vii. 711) with ‘ olive-bearing Mutuesca,” 
 and Servius (ad loc.) tells us that its name comes “ azo 
 THS “Hpas,”’ ‘id est, a Junone, quae illic colitur” (cf. 
 Solin, ii. 10). Dionysius speaks of it in one passage 
 (iii. 82) as lying 107 stadia (133 miles) and in another 
 (xi. 8) 140 stadia (174 miles) from Rome, and in the 
 latter as lying near the Tiber. 
 
 There is much difference of opinion as to its site: but it 
 should probably be placed a little way—a mile or so— 
 to the E. of the modern road, on the low hills above 
 it, the exact site depending upon the view they take 
 as to its distance from Rome. The line of the road 
 is at present anything but clear at this point, for 
 no traces exist on the spot. The remains, too, which 
 are to be seen are somewhat insignificant; nothing is 
 preserved above-ground but mere heaps of debris. Chaupy, 
 
 7% 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 on the other hand, who explored the ground in 1768, gives 
 a far more definite account, which, if it be accepted in its 
 entirety, leaves little doubt as to the site of Eretum. He 
 places the point where the Via Salaria leaves the valley of 
 the Tiber at about the eighteenth ancient mile from Rome 
 (corresponding more or less with the seventeenth modern 
 mile), just after the Ponte di Casa Cotta, where, he says, 
 he saw traces of pavement, some of the stones being 
 an situ, while others had been removed. From this point 
 the ancient road diverged from the modern towards the 
 right. A little further on (p. 91) he tells us that the name 
 of the place was Rimane. 
 
 The nature of the old ruins within the enceinte would 
 be doubtful, as he does not further describe them, did 
 not Gell (op. cit., 204) speak of them as being of opus 
 reticulatum, of which I cannot say that I saw any traces. 
 But that we have here the site of Eretum (occupied 
 apparently by a mediaeval castle, which is shown in a 
 plan of the road preserved in the State Archives in 
 Rome) seems increasingly probable from the fact that 
 Chaupy, in going towards it from Torre Fiora, not along 
 the road but across the fields, saw, ‘‘ vis-a-vis I’H6tel- 
 lerie de Moricone,” a considerable piece of ancient paving 
 running towards the ruins he had discovered. He was, 
 however, in some doubt (and this is particularly unfor- 
 tunate) whether to attribute it to the prolongation of the 
 Via Nomentana to Eretum or to another road. 
 
 Gell (op. cit., 208) remarks that ‘it is exceedingly 
 difficult to fix with precision upon the places mentioned 
 by this writer, or to connect intelligibly his narrations.’’ 
 His own theory, that Eretum was at Grotta Marozza, is, 
 as we have already said, incorrect: but his whole con- 
 ception of the facts is vitiated by his supposition that the 
 Via Salaria Vetus ran past Mentana. He is wrong, too, 
 
 in supposing that the road which at ‘‘ mile xxi falls into | 
 
 the Via Nomentana from the seventeenth mile of the lower 
 Via Salaria”’ (i.e. that which runs N. of the Colle del 
 Forno) must be that of which Chaupy speaks. I have 
 already had occasion to make use of Chaupy’s accounts 
 74 
 
THE VIA SALARIA 
 
 of what he saw, and they appear to me to be of consider- 
 able value. The doubt as to the existence of a road run- 
 ning from the prolongation of the Via Nomentana to 
 Rimane is particularly unfortunate, as no traces of any 
 such road are, as far as I know, to be found—and this 
 is an important point in the determination of the site of 
 Kretum. The discovery of pavement just N. of the 
 Ponte di Casa Cotta is not positive evidence, it is true, 
 that the Via Salaria left the river only there, for it is 
 probable that the road along the Tiber valley follows an 
 ancient line. 
 
 From it seems to have diverged a deverticulum about 
 half a mile N. of Casa Cotta, to judge by a cutting through 
 the hill to the W. of point 51, though the prolongation 
 of it is not clear either to the N. or the S., and it certainly 
 cannot belong to the Via Salaria itself. The latter must 
 have gone straight on, as indicated in the map, though 
 no traces of it now exist so far as I know: a little before 
 the twenty-second mile, according to my reckoning, it 
 reaches the church which Chaupy (op. cit., 75) rightly 
 believed to be that of S. Anthimus, whose name the hill 
 on which it stands still bears. He saw there columns of 
 granite, of one of which Stevenson? observed a frag- 
 ment, and, on the ascent immediately preceding it, traces 
 of the pavement of the ancient road. Stevenson (Bull. 
 Crist. 1896, 160) mentions the church, of which nothing 
 but the apse of mediaeval work now remains standing, 
 and his discovery of the cemetery in which the martyr 
 was buried a little way to the E. of Monte Maggiore. The 
 distance from Rome of the site of his tomb is variously 
 given as the twenty-second and the twenty-eighth mile. 
 
 Monte Maggiore itself may occupy an ancient site, 
 but there are no traces of antiquity. There are various 
 ancient fragments in the garden, including two circular 
 putealia with reliefs. None of these is necessarily of 
 local provenance, but may have been brought here from 
 
 1 For all this district much valuable information is contained in 
 
 a volume of Stevenson’s MS. notes, now in the Vatican (Vat. Lat. 
 10551, 55 sqq.). 
 
 75 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 Rome by Prince Sciarra, to whom the villa until recently 
 belonged. 
 
 Just S. of Monte Maggiore runs the modern road to 
 Monte Libretti. This appears to follow an ancient line; 
 there is no pavement on the older track, which cuts off 
 some of the windings of the present road, but there are 
 one or two paving-stones in situ in the bank on the S. side 
 of the cutting a little way to the W. of the Casa Falconieri, 
 about 2 metres above the present level. 
 
 There are no traces of the Via Salaria, so far as I know, 
 on the descent from Monte Maggiore to the Fosso di 
 Carolano, but immediately after this is crossed its line 
 may be clearly seen ascending 35° N. of E. through a 
 deep cutting. On its S.E. edge are traces of buildings 
 running parallel to it, mainly in brick; they have only 
 recently been laid bare by the removal of the brushwood, 
 the ground having been newly brought under cultivation, 
 and have been much destroyed, so that little but debris 
 is visible above-ground. I saw a fragment of a pediment 
 in white marble, from a tomb or small shrine, the top 
 of a sepulchral cippus (none of the inscribed portion was 
 preserved), a threshold block of sandstone 1-92 metre long 
 by 0-68 wide, and a fragment of a brick pilaster covered 
 with plaster painted red measuring 42 by 386 cm. This 
 may serve to show that the large group of buildings must 
 have been of some importance—possibly they are the 
 ruins of a halting-place on the road half-way between 
 Eretum and Vicus Novus. 
 
 A little way beyond, on the S.E. side of the line of the 
 road, a large block of pudding-stone is embedded in the 
 ground—it is probably part of the foundations of a tomb : 
 and a little further on again, just before the point where 
 the old line would fall into the modern path, several 
 paving-stones of limestone may be seen in the field walls. 
 Near the point where a modern path diverges N.N.E. 
 the large blocks of limestone of the crepido are to be seen 
 running 35° EK. of N. Near this point Stevenson seems 
 to have observed the remains of several buildings on each 
 side of the road, especially of water reservoirs. The corn 
 76 
 
 eesti och ree 
 
THE VIA SALARIA 
 
 was already fairly high in places at the time of my visit, 
 but I saw the platform of a villa on the N.W. of the road. 
 
 Near the conjectural site of the twenty-fifth milestone 
 the road reaches a new house, and here in a field-wall are 
 many more blocks from the crepido of the road: two 
 seem to be in situ on the S.E. edge of the modern path, 
 and give the width of the road as 4°50 metres (just over 
 15 feet) and its direction as 30° E. of N. Here is a 
 large reservoir with four chambers, one of which I measured 
 as 3°90 metres in width, and S.E. of it are remains of 
 substruction walls. The Via Salaria soon reaches the 
 Osteria della Creta (the house at 218 metres), Just beyond 
 which is the Fabbrica Palmieri. Here it is joined by 
 the prolongation of the Via Nomentana, with which I 
 shall deal when I come to speak of that road, and also by 
 the modern road from Fara Sabina station, which prob- 
 ably does not follow an ancient line. We must, however, 
 mention a few remains near to its course, and it may be 
 well to include a few remarks on the site of Cures. 
 
 To the W. of the Osteria della Creta are the foundations 
 of a villa, but no other ruins are visible until we reach 
 the Grotta S. Andrea, which is the platform of a large 
 villa with a cryptoporticus on its S. and W. sides; the 
 platform is built in rough opus quadratum of conglomerate 
 and concrete. 
 
 The Grotta Volpe, some way to the S., is a water reser- 
 voir: and another reservoir will be found further W., 
 just to the N. of the modern road, some distance to the 
 S. of which, on the slopes above the Fosso Carolano, there 
 is some brick debris. 
 
 Just before we reach the bridge over the Fosso Corese, 
 a path diverges N.N.E. and then runs almost due N. 
 This is the line given by Kiepert (Carta dell’ I talia Centrale) 
 as that of the road leading to Cures. The modern road 
 to Fara Sabina on the W. bank of the Fosso Corese may 
 also follow an ancient line. 
 
 The site of Cures and the excavations of 1874-75 are 
 described by Lanciani in Commentationes Philologae in © 
 honorem Th. Mommseni (1877), 411 sqq.; while their 
 
 17 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 continuation in 1877 is mentioned in Not. Scav. 1877, 245. 
 The site consists of a hill with two summits, round the 
 base of which runs the Fosso Corese. Nibby’s idea (Analisi, 
 i. 587) that it included the whole triangle between the 
 Fosso Corese and the Fosso Carolano, as far E. as point 
 181 on the map, is absurd. The W. summit was 
 occupied by the necropolis, the E. by the citadel 
 (here stands the church of S. Maria degli Arci), and the 
 lower ground between the two by the city itself. Some 
 traces of the walls of the citadel, and of the cutting which 
 separated it from the rest of the town, were recognised ; 
 while in the necropolis a few graves of the Imperial period, 
 the bodies being buried under tiles, were discovered. 
 
 The excavations brought to light a part of the principal 
 temple, the forum, and some remains of private houses. 
 
 Cures is, as is well known, connected with the earliest 
 history of Rome, as the home of Titus Tatius, who, accord- 
 ing to the legend, founded the Sabine settlement on the 
 Quirinal, and of Numa. At the beginning of the Imperial 
 period it is spoken of as an unimportant place, but the 
 inscriptions seem to indicate that it rose to greater pros- 
 perity in the second century a.p., as did so many of the 
 country towns of Italy. 
 
 The classical literature with regard to it is summarised 
 by Mommsen in C.I.L. ix. 471, and by Hiilsen in Pauly- 
 Wissowa, R.E. iv. 1814, while Tomassetti (op. cit., 119 sqq.) 
 deals fully with the mediaeval history of the place. In 
 the territory of Cures, near the twenty-fifth mile from 
 Rome, was the cemetery of SS. Tiburtius, Hyacinthus, 
 and Alexander (Bull. Crist. 1880, 107). 
 
 Capmartin de Chaupy, after having identified the site 
 by means of the inscription C.I.L. ix. 4962, was so 
 pleased with the discovery that he established himself in 
 the Casino d’ Arci, and proposed to collect there whatever 
 he could find of the antiquities of the town (op. cit., ili. 79). 
 
 About a mile and a half to the W. of Cures is the ruin 
 known as the Grotte di Torri, which by some writers 
 (e.g. Cluver, Italia antiqua, and Galletti, Gabio antica citta 
 di Sabina scoperta ove é ora Torri overo le grotte di Torri) 
 78 
 
 ee eee Oe 
 
 ates Seige 
 
THE VIA SALARIA 
 
 was supposed to be an ancient city, while others have 
 found in it the site of a temple (Chaupy, op. cit., iii. 82). 
 The ruins consist, however, as a fact, of an enormous 
 rectangular platform, measuring about 96 by 93 metres, 
 having an outer wall faced with polygonal work, very 
 neatly jointed, with the faces of the blocks smoothed. 
 Just inside this polygonal wall a cryptoporticus, the walls 
 of which are faced with opus incertum, can be traced on 
 all sides except on the S.S.E.; and on the W.S.W. there 
 are two passages, the outer 3°67 metres in width, the 
 inner 4 metres, the first of which is lighted by slit windows 
 0°67 by 0-13 metre on the outside, where they pierce the 
 polygonal wall. In the centre of the platform is a large 
 water reservoir, above which is a courtyard 13°60 by 
 7°38 metres, surrounded by a gutter of slabs of travertine. 
 
 The total thickness of the outer wall, from the face of 
 the polygonal blocks to the face of the opus incertum 
 of the cryptoporticus, is only 1:2 metre, the polygonal 
 wall being only a single block thick, so that by no 
 possibility could it have stood alone to a height of 4 or 
 5 metres. The attempts that have been made to see in 
 this building the ruins of a primitive city are therefore 
 futile ; it is nothing more than a very large villa of Roman 
 date. It has recently been described in a paper by 
 Giovenale (well illustrated with photographs) in Disserta- 
 ziont dell’ Accad. Pontif. d’ Archeologia, Series ii. vol. vii. 
 351 sqq., Figs. 9-14. 
 
 On one of the blocks of the W.S.W. side at the W.N.W. 
 angle are three phalli together (see Fig. 2), and on the 
 N.N.W. side (low down) a lion. It may be worth noting 
 that Gell (op. cit., 193) has again misunderstood Chaupy, 
 who places these perfectly correctly at Grotte di Torri, 
 and not at S. Pietro, a church which apparently stood at 
 or near the point (181 on the map) where the road turns 
 off to the village of Corese. 
 
 _ After this digression we may now return to the Via 
 Salaria, which we left at the Osteria della Creta. Just N. 
 of this building, on the W. edge of the road, are the founda- 
 tions of an ancient building, and on the hill a mile to the 
 79 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 N., to the E. of the Casa S. Croce, is the platform of a 
 villa (Vespignani, Ann. Inst. 1834, 107). At the twenty- 
 seventh (ancient) mile from Rome we reach the Ponte 
 Mercato: the present bridge is new, but there are remains 
 of an older one, not necessarily of Roman date, in concrete, 
 8°35 metres in width. 
 
 On the N. edge of the old road is a tomb—a round 
 mass of concrete, within which is a square chamber with 
 three rectangular niches, lined with brick and opus 
 reticulatum. Beyond this a line of stones marks the 
 course of the old road, which crosses the modern just 
 before the site of the twenty-eighth milestone, and follows 
 a valley in an N.E. direction. The older Roman road ran 
 almost due N. from the Osteria Nerola, and now forms the 
 boundary between the provinces of Rome and Perugia 
 for a little way, and, further on, that between the com- 
 munes of Fara Sabina and Ponticelli. Through the 
 valley of which I have spoken the Via Salaria can be 
 clearly traced. The roadway is about 6 metres wide, 
 and the crepidines 0°60 metre each. On the S.E. side of 
 it, on a projecting hill, is a large platform, upon which 
 are some unfluted columns of pudding-stone 0°60 metre 
 in diameter: the place bears the name of S. Margherita, 
 but it is an ancient site, though a church may have been 
 erected there in later times. Not far off is a round-headed 
 channel cut in the rock, which may have served to supply 
 water, as there are still springs in the neighbourhood, A 
 little further on, below the road, are the remains of a 
 building in brick and concrete. Three hundred yards 
 beyond this is the so-called Ponte del Diavolo, an embank- 
 ment wall in opus quadratum of local conglomerate, with 
 the N.W. side alone free, by which the road is supported 
 in its ascent on the S.E. slopes of the valley, which it 
 now abandons for the time. It is about 20 metres in 
 length, with a turn in the middle, according to the plan 
 of Vespignani (Ann. Inst. cit., tav. C), 7°40 metres in 
 height at the highest part and 10 metres in width.!, There 
 
 1 Vespignani makes it only 4 metres, but I quote my own 
 
 measurement. It will be seen, too, that the measurements of his 
 80 
 
THE VIA SALARIA 
 
 is a parapet on the N.W. side 60 cm. in width, while that 
 on the S.K. side, which must have served as a footpath, 
 is no less than 2°30 metres wide. There are eight but- 
 tresses, and between the fifth and sixth from the S. end 
 there is an aperture for drainage 1°87 metre in height, 
 and varying in width from 1°7 metre at the top to 1°42 
 at the bottom, the two upper side stones converging slightly. 
 The blocks are practically rectangular, the vertical joints 
 not being always quite perpendicular, and are large, 
 from 65 to 75 cm. in height. The lowest course projects 
 slightly, and the buttresses project from 65 to 80 cm. 
 
 A mile and a half further is the Madonna della Quercia, 
 and a short two miles on, the site of the post-station of 
 ad Novas or Vicus Novus; and here we may fittingly 
 abandon the study of the Via Salaria, which we have 
 already followed for a considerable distance beyond what 
 are, strictly speaking, the limits of the Roman Campagna. 
 plan do not agree with those of his elevation, the latter being, it 
 would seem, correct. Apparently the scale of the former is about 
 
 one-half too small, which would make the total length about 40 
 metres. 
 
II 
 
 THE VIA NOMENTANA 
 
 Salaria at the Porta Collina, and ran to the Porta 
 Nomentana of the Aurelian wall, through the garden 
 
 of the British Embassy, some 75 metres to the S.E. of the 
 present Porta Pia. The Porta Nomentana had two semi- 
 circular towers with square bases; the right-hand tower, 
 now removed, stood upon the tomb of Q. Haterius: of 
 this tomb only a few blocks remain and not a vestige 
 of an inscription. The left-hand tower is well preserved. 
 About 60 metres of the pavement of the old road was 
 found in the Villa Patrizi on the right of the road outside 
 Porta Pia, and many other discoveries were made when 
 the villa was pulled down and the headquarters of the 
 railway administration constructed ; but the present road, 
 
 T= ANCIENT VIA NOMENTANA diverged from the Via 
 
 as far as the Citta Giardino Aniene, now presents hardly 
 
 any archaeological interest ; new buildings have sprung 
 up along it, and Rome is gradually spreading in this 
 
 direction, so that all the old landmarks are vanishing fast. 
 
 The road took a curiously indirect course, winding 
 considerably. It was flanked by many tombs, and a little 
 to the N. of the Castra Pretoria are the Catacombs of 
 S. Nicomedes. On a Roman road to the N. of these again 
 were found tombs of the late Republican or early Imperial 
 period, including a fine sepulchral relief of a husband and 
 wife. Some remains of a Christian cemetery were also 
 discovered; but nothing of these can be seen now, for 
 the modern road is so much wider than the ancient that 
 it conveys no idea of what it was like, and much of what 
 I saw when I first described the road twenty years ago 
 has disappeared completely. 
 
 82 
 
 a 
 
THE VIA NOMENTANA 
 
 The exact course of the road as far as S. Agnese has 
 until lately been somewhat uncertain, though it can never 
 have been far from the modern road; but the pavement 
 was discovered in 1902 at the corner of the Via Pasqualina 
 (now Via Pola), 2 metres below the present ground-level. 
 At S. Agnese, if not before, the ancient road must coincide 
 with the modern. 
 
 On the W. is the round mausoleum of Constantia, 
 daughter of Constantine, with the circus-shaped cemetery 
 attached. The porphyry sarcophagus in it is now in the 
 Sala della Croce Greca of the Vatican; the one opposite 
 it comes from Torre Pignattara. 
 
 In the garden attached to S. Agnese is the inscription, 
 which runs: “Celeri Neronis Augusti l.a....0.,” which 
 is thought by some to refer to Celer, one of the architects of 
 the Golden House of Nero. The block of marble on which 
 it was carved was converted into one of the capitals of the 
 church of S. Agnese. 
 
 The Via Nomentana went on from S. Agnese as far as 
 the bridge on the line taken by the modern road ; along 
 this modern road on the right we see a tomb in the 
 enclosure wall of the Villa Blanc, but it is a reconstruction 
 of one found on the Via Flaminia. A little further on 
 the left, opposite the Osteria Mangani, there were remains 
 of a wall in opus quadratum, belonging either to a tomb 
 or to the crepido of the road itself (the wall of massive 
 blocks, that is, which served as its edging), and in the 
 construction of the fort on the right, just above the rail- 
 way, the foundations of a large tomb were destroyed, and 
 also remains of earlier burials—fragments of bones mixed 
 with “ monochrome Italo-Greek iridescent pottery.” 
 
 On the left-hand side of the road, some 200 yards away 
 in the valley, is the tomb known as the Sedia del Diavolo, 
 a very fine specimen of work of the second or third cen- 
 tury A.D., consisting of two chambers one above the other, 
 the upper one with fine ornamental brickwork. 
 
 In the quarries to the N. are the foundations of a villa, 
 with an extensive system of reservoirs for water storage 
 cut in the rock. 
 
 83 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 : 
 P 
 ' 
 
 The Via Nomentana now descends sharply to the valley 
 of the Anio, and we soon reach the Ponte Nomentano. 
 Very little of the original bridge remains; it is 
 generally believed, like the Ponte Salario, to have been 
 rebuilt by Narses, but it has been considerably trans- 
 formed even since his day, and now only has one arch in 
 use; it is crowned by a picturesque mediaeval tower. 
 In 1849 it was cut for a length of 7 metres by the French, in 
 their advance on Rome. 
 
 Immediately after the bridge a hill rises on the right 
 of the road, known as the Mons Sacer. 
 
 This mount was the historic scene of the retirement 
 of the plebs in 494 B.c. It will be remembered how, in 
 resentment at what was considered an unjust law, the 
 army marched out of Rome and settled here, intending 
 to found a new city; and how the famous speech by 
 Menenius Agrippa on the belly and its members reconciled 
 them to Rome. Nowadays it is a far from pleasing spot, 
 owing to unprepossessing surroundings ; but has a glorious 
 view of the surrounding hills, and would have been a fine 
 site for a town better laid out and built than the misnamed 
 garden suburb (on the lucus a non lucendo principle) 
 which now occupies it. 
 
 If, as a recent theory has it, the plebeians were the 
 dispossessed aristocracy of the Regal period, their con- — 
 tinual struggles with the patricians have a very natural 
 basis. It is pointed out by Hiilsen in support of his 
 theory that the family names of all of the kings except 
 Romulus and the Tarquins are those of plebeian gentes, as 
 are the names of three of the hills of the Septimontium 
 (the Caelius, Cispius, and Oppius). 
 
 Here a road diverges to the N. which is now known as 
 the Via delle Vigne Nuove (Road of the New Vineyards). 
 This, though now it shows little trace of antiquity, is 
 certainly an ancient road—i.e. the Via Patinaria; the 
 cutting made for it to the W. of Casale Mangani may be 
 noticed and also its straightness of line. A road branches 
 off from it on the left, which is also ancient, now called — 
 
 the Via della Buffalotta. To the E. of the Via Patinaria, — 
 84 ; 
 a 
 
THE VIA NOMENTANA 
 
 a little further on, is the Casale Chiari, which occupied the 
 site of a large villa, which is identified with the Villa of 
 Phaon to which Nero fled and where he committed suicide. 
 An interesting confirmation of this identification was a 
 discovery made in 1891 of the cinerary urn of Claudia 
 Kgloge, probably the old nurse of Nero, who, as Suetonius 
 tells us, with Acte, provided for his burial. We also know 
 the name of the road: the Catalogus Imperatorum notes 
 ** Nero occisus Patinaria via.”’ 
 
 The large mediaeval tower (a later farmhouse has been 
 built against it) called Torre Redicicoli, further along this 
 road, occupies without doubt an ancient site; there are 
 various fragments of coloured marble bricks, etc., to be 
 seen about. Beyond this the road cannot be traced, and 
 it most likely ran on N.E. to join the Via della Buffalotta, 
 to which we may now return. To the E. of it, at the 
 second kilometre, are traces of excavations, in which were 
 found remains of dwelling-houses, two statuettes, a lead 
 pipe, and some coins; they (the excavations) were made 
 in 1831, and were closed as unsuccessful, after having 
 employed twenty men for two weeks. To the N.E. again 
 is the Casale della Cecchina. Just beyond there is a 
 cutting traversed by the modern road, which seems to be 
 of ancient origin: beyond this point there are no traces 
 of antiquity for some distance. 
 
 There are many paving-stones under the bridge which 
 crosses the stream (Fosso Buffalotta), and the road con- 
 tinues on the further side of it, still in a straight line 
 (due N.) until it passes on the left the Chiesuola Buffalotta 
 —a tomb of ornamental brickwork, the front being of 
 yellow bricks, the sides of red. Soon after this it appears 
 to divide into three branches, two of which turn N.W. to 
 cross the Fosso Formicola, while the third keeps straight 
 on. All the three must have fallen into the ancient road 
 from Malpasso to Mentana. The first of the branches, 
 which runs N.W., passes the remains of a villa on the S. 
 and those of another brick tomb which faces N.W.; the 
 Tuins to the N.W. of this are mediaeval, though they no 
 doubt occupy an ancient site. Brick debris is to be found 
 
 — 85 
 
| 
 
 THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 all over this plateau. There is a circular chamber cut in 
 the rock on the edge of the stream, into which run three 
 water channels; the front of it has a plastered niche with 
 
 traces of painting (rosettes, etc.), so that it may have been — 
 
 a fountain, the front of which was ornamented—a kind 
 of nymphaeum, in fact. Close by are caves, which may 
 be pre-Roman tombs. 
 
 Some way before the Fosso Buffalotta the Via di Tor 
 S. Giovanni diverges to the right. This presents no 
 definite traces of antiquity, but is very probably ancient, 
 to judge by the existence of a few paving-stones at the 
 fountain W.N.W. of the Casale Tor S. Giovanni, and of 
 a cutting to the N.W., by which it would ascend to the 
 plateau. About a kilometre N.N.W. of the casale are the 
 remains of another villa in the banks of a stream, to 
 which the road probably led. Whether it went further 
 I do not know; but it may well have joined the others 
 of which we have just spoken, on the high ground E. of 
 Casale Marcigliana. 
 
 In this district, we may say between Tor S. Giovanni 
 and the Tiber, is to be sought the site of Crustumerium, 
 though no remains of it exist. It is frequently mentioned 
 in the early history of Rome: and according to Pliny 
 and Livy it must have lain hereabouts: and though the 
 place itself had entirely disappeared (the city was finally 
 conquered in 500 B.c., the tribus Crustumina being formed 
 probably in 471 B.c.), and Pliny—this time correctly— 
 names it among the lost cities of Latium, the name 
 seems to have clung to the district, the fertility of which, 
 and especially the pears which it produced, remained 
 famous. 
 
 It was apparently on the edge of the Sabine territory ; 
 it is mentioned, with Caenina and Antemnae, among the 
 Sabine cities in the story of the rape of the Sabine women, 
 but among the Prisci Latini by Livy and Dionysius, and 
 the latter tells us that it was an Alban colony of far 
 greater antiquity than Rome. There are various opinions 
 as to its site, and it is impossible in the present state of 
 our knowledge to be more exact. 
 
 86 
 
 EE 
 ~ 
 The 
 ae 
 5 
 % 
 ; 
 bs 
 a 
 * 
 
THE VIA NOMENTANA 
 
 We now return to the Via Nomentana, which we left 
 just beyond the bridge over the Anio. The cutting 
 through the hill, by which the road descends to the stream 
 before the fifth kilometre, is probably of ancient origin. 
 
 The road descends again through a cutting of ancient 
 origin, which has recently been deepened (two ancient 
 drains cut in the rock being thus exposed), to a bridge 
 over the Fosso della Cecchina, in which there were some 
 traces of ancient paving years ago. Beyond is the Casale 
 dei Pazzi on the right, with a picturesque group of 
 pines. 
 
 A little further along, on the right, is the brick tomb 
 known as the Torraccio della Cecchina, or di Spuntapiedi: 
 it is similar in construction to the Sedia del Diavolo, and 
 is built of red and yellow bricks, the former in front, the 
 latter at the sides. The lower chamber (not now accessible) 
 had four niches, and was reached by a staircase on the out- 
 side, while the upper chamber has four niches also. Both 
 retain traces of decoration in painted stucco. The con- 
 struction of the dome is similar to that of the Sedia del 
 Diavolo. The fagade towards the road has two list 
 windows, between which is a festoon in relief, cut in the 
 _ brick. 
 
 The cutting made for the old road, or for the extraction 
 of its materials, can be seen on the S.E. edge of the modern 
 road. 
 
 A little further on the right are the Ruderi del Coazzo, 
 of which everything standing is mediaeval, though the 
 ‘site is probably ancient. To the W. of them an ancient 
 road diverges to the right (now known as the Strada 
 Vecchia di Palombara or Via Palombarese, for it is still 
 in use for the most part),1 while another diverged S. to 
 the Via Tiburtina, past the Casale S. Basilio. | 
 
 At the point where the first road leaves the Via 
 Nomentana the cutting made for it is clearly traceable, 
 and several paving-stones may be seen a little further on: 
 while, after a couple of miles, the cuttings which run just 
 
 1 The first part of it, which is purely modern, turns off at 
 Capobianco. 
 87 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 to the N. of the modern track are conspicuous, and there 
 is pavement preserved in them. 
 
 On the right, on a hill across the stream, is the large 
 Casale di Marco Simone, or Castel Cesi (for to that family 
 it belonged until 1678). It occupies in all probability an 
 ancient site: immediately to the E. of it are vaulted 
 substructures in concrete; while at the casale itself is 
 a sarcophagus with a group of the Three Graces in the 
 centre of the front under a large niche, and two other 
 figures on each side in smaller niches. 
 
 A mile to the N.E. is the Casale di Marco Simone Vecchio, 
 where there are no traces of antiquity. 
 
 The rest of the road into Palombara has no particular 
 archaeological interest, and Palombara itself will be dealt 
 with later. We now return to the Via Nomentana. 
 
 Before the eighth kilometre-stone the modern road 
 crosses over, leaving the ancient road on the left. There 
 are various remains on the left of the road, of no great 
 importance—of villas or tombs ; those at the point marked 
 Ficulea on the Staff map belong to the former. 
 
 The Casale Coazzo apparently occupies an ancient site ; 
 there is a wall indeed in the floor of the yard, and fragments 
 of columns, etc., are to be seen—also many ‘paving-stones, 
 which, however, probably do not come from the Via 
 Nomentana, the pavement of which, 4 metres wide, is 
 intact for some distance. 
 
 To the N. again, on the further side of a deep valley, is 
 the Casale della Cesarina. 
 
 Though the exact site of Ficulea remains somewhat 
 uncertain (as is often the case with these ancient “ cities ”’ 
 or villages of Latium), we know generally that it cannot 
 have been very far from La Cesarina. It is certain that 
 it lay on the road from Rome to Nomentum, between the 
 two places, inasmuch as this road, according to Livy, was 
 originally known as Via Ficulensis: and it was not far 
 from Fidenae, for Varro speaks of “* qui tum ”—after the 
 departure of the Gauls—‘ sub urbe populi, ut Ficuleates 
 ac Fidenates et finitimi alii’? ; and Dionysius places the 
 territory allotted to the Claudian tribe between Fidenae 
 88 
 
 ee 
 
THE VIA NOMENTANA 
 
 and Ficulea. Nor was it far from the Monte Corniculani, 
 for the same author classes it with the cities built by the 
 aborigines. ‘‘ Antemnae, Caenina, Ficulea which lay 
 towards the Montes Corniculani and Tibur.’’ Atticus, 
 the friend and correspondent of Cicero, had an estate which 
 lay on the boundary between the territory of Ficulea and 
 Nomentum, so it is indifferently spoken of under either 
 name: and Martial’s estate at Nomentum must also have 
 been near the edge of Ficulea, since in Epig. vi. 27 he 
 calls his friend Nepos bis vicinum, because he lived near 
 him in Rome and out of it dwelt at ‘“‘ Veteres Ficeliae,”’ 
 in the same neighbourhood as himself. The epithet vetus, 
 which occurs also in Livy, may only refer to the fact that 
 the origin of the place was lost in remote antiquity. 
 
 An examination of the district helps us little to fix the 
 site; there are no remains of an earlier date—the few 
 ruins which we saw all belong to the Roman period, and 
 sufficient evidence is entirely wanting. 
 
 Returning to the Via Nomentana, we find a well- 
 preserved piece of the ancient paving on the left, and 
 just after the tenth kilometre-stone reach the so-called 
 ** Scavi del Papa S. Alessandro,” that is the basilica (there 
 are in reality two) and cemetery of 8. Alexander (pro- 
 bably not the Pope). It fell within the territory of 
 Ficulea. There are a few galleries still preserved, but as 
 a catacomb it is of little interest. 
 
 A. little further on is the mediaeval Torraccio di Capo- 
 bianco, into the upper part of which are built paving- 
 ' stones and marble: it rests upon an ancient tomb, the 
 chamber of which is of tufa concrete with a barrel vault, 
 while the exterior was faced with slabs of travertine. 
 
 In excavations made in 1795 in the tenuta of Capo- 
 bianco were found several inscriptions, one a dedication 
 to Stata Mater, and amongst others an epitaph of a 
 scurra, or jester; also a curious and _ interesting 
 placard which was placed outside some baths: “ In this 
 property of Aurelia Faustiniana you can take a bath as 
 if you were in the city, in the city fashion, and you will 
 enjoy every comfort.” Beside the inscription actual 
 
 ' $89 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES | 
 
 remains of the baths were found, with a mosaic pavement 
 
 (which was afterwards removed to Paris), with a hypocaust 
 
 under it, supported alternately by terra-cotta tubes and 
 brick pillars, about 8 Roman feet apart. The pavement 
 was of geometrical design, and mainly in black and white. 
 
 The pavement of the Via Nomentana is well preserved 
 on both sides of the Casale di Capobianco; to the N.E. 
 of it I measured the width of it as 14 feet. From Capo- 
 bianco the road runs on almost due N. and considerable 
 portions of the pavement are at first preserved. Further 
 on is the prominent mediaeval watch-tower known as 
 Torre Lupara. On the right of the road, at the fourteenth 
 kilometre, is the Casale S. Antonio, which occupies a 
 remarkably strong site, though what is to be seen there 
 is purely mediaeval. The ancient road must now have 
 run just to the right of the modern, which cuts through 
 the foundations of some ancient buildings; and soon 
 afterwards it turns off sharply to the N.E., making a steep 
 ascent and descent, and rejoining the modern road, which 
 keeps round the head of the Valle Valentino, just before 
 the mediaeval Casale di Monte Gentile. According to an 
 erroneous view, this was the site of Ficulea: whereas 
 Nibby puts Caenina here. This place appears twice in 
 the earliest history of Rome: (1) Romulus was sacri- 
 ficing there (before the foundation of Rome) when Remus 
 was captured by the shepherds of Numitor, and (2) it 
 was from Acro, king of Caenina, that Romulus won the 
 
 first spolia opima, in the battle following the rape of the - 
 
 Sabine women, when the people of Caenina were the first 
 to attack the Romans, but were easily defeated and their 
 city taken. It figures in Pliny’s list of the lost towns 
 of Latium: and of its site we really know nothing except 
 that it must have been situated close to Rome, as it is 
 mentioned in connexion with Crustumerium and Antemnae. 
 It gave its name to a priesthood of the Roman State, 
 which still existed in the time of the Empire. 
 
 On the right, further on, is the large tomb, crowned by 
 a mediaeval tower, marked in the maps as Torre Mancini. 
 
 The road then descends steeply, and is protected on 
 90 
 
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 RE ee ee Se eg ee a ne meen 
 
 eR SR a eT ee 
 
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THE VIA NOMENTANA 
 
 the descent by massive supporting walls, which keep up 
 the bank on either side: they are in reticulatum and 
 brick, with apsidal niches alternating with projecting 
 buttresses, and weepholes to allow the moisture to escape. 
 Those on the right are the more conspicuous, but those 
 on the left have recently been cleared. 
 
 The road descends steeply, and then reascends to 
 Mentana, there being no traces of antiquity in the last 
 portion. The modern village probably occupies the lower 
 part of the site of the ancient Nomentum, which extended 
 further to the E., the only side upon which there is space 
 available; on the other sides, especially on the W. and 
 S., the position is well protected by ravines. There are, 
 however, no remains of walls or of buildings attributable 
 to it to be seen in situ. The site is really fixed by the 
 distance of 14 miles from Rome given by the Tabula 
 Peutingerana, which leaves no room for doubt. Monte 
 d’Oro, where remains of villas and statuary (including a 
 youthful Bacchus) have recently been found, is over a 
 mile too near to Rome, whereas the 14 miles take us just 
 up to the modern village; and the name Mentana is 
 obviously derived from Nomentum. Inscriptions have 
 been found here too, in which its magistrates and priest- 
 hoods are mentioned, though the exact site of their dis- 
 covery is not known. As Dessau remarks, there was 
 considerable doubt in the minds of the Romans them- 
 selves whether Nomentum was to be considered to have 
 belonged in origin to the Latin or to the Sabine race: 
 though the former opinion rightly prevailed, we find that 
 Vergil was sufficiently undecided to give both in two 
 different passages ! 
 
 Roads diverge from Mentana in various directions ; 
 there is, in the first place, one running E. to join the 
 road to Palombara. Another, of which we shall speak 
 presently, runs due N. in continuation of the line of the 
 Via Nomentana. A third runs W. to Monte Rotondo. 
 A fourth is that which is supposed by some writers to be 
 the Via Salaria, but wrongly. 
 
 The line of road which we have seen leaving Mentana 
 
 aka 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 on the N. side runs very slightly E. of N. to join the 
 Via Salaria near the Fabbrica Palmieri, between the 
 twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth mile from Rome. Though 
 there is no actual pavement in sitw upon it, there is no 
 doubt as to its antiquity. It may have served as an 
 alternative route to the Via Salaria, as the distance by it 
 is about the same, but it is a good deal more hilly; and 
 it does not seem to have been much frequented, inasmuch 
 as it is not to be found in the Tabula Peutingerana or in 
 the Itineraries: and there are very few remains of 
 antiquity along its course. 
 
 In about another mile we reach the massive ruins of 
 Grotta Marozza, which are those of a mediaeval fortress. 
 The name (another form of Maria) is that of a member of 
 the family of the Crescenzi, to whom it belonged. 
 
 The Aquae Labanae mentioned by Strabo may be 
 placed in this neighbourhood: there is a sulphur spring 
 a little way S. of the villa marked in our map E. of Grotta 
 Marozza, and another two and a half miles further N.E.— 
 the former is no doubt that which bears the name Bagni 
 di Grotta Marozza. 
 
 To the N.E. of Grotta Marozza there are the remains 
 of several other villas of no great importance. 
 
 Returning to the road, which we left near Grotta Marozza, 
 we find that it continues to run in a straight line, and 
 there are some limestone paving-stones loose in the path. 
 At the bridge over the Fosso Buffala there are some 
 blocks of squared stone in the stream bed and in the 
 bridge itself, probably belonging to the earlier structure : 
 
 and on the ascent beyond it paving-stones may be seen 
 
 in the field walls. The road now descends to the valley 
 of the Fiora, turning sharply to the left. In a straight 
 line with its course up till now is the lofty Torre Fiora, 
 which is entirely mediaeval. Its great height is neces- 
 sitated by the fact that it stands in very low ground. 
 
 After this the road presents no features of interest until 
 it joins the Via Salaria. 
 
 92 
 
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 = 
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 Pan 
 
III 
 
 THE VIA TIBURTINA 
 
 roads that issued from the gates of Rome, carrying 
 a large amount both of local and of long-distance 
 traffic. The road itself is, however, until the last part 
 of its course, in no way remarkable either for the beauty 
 of the country it traverses or for the difficulties which 
 have had to be dealt with by its engineers. On the con- 
 trary, until the actual ascent to Tibur begins, the road 
 runs through a gently undulating and somewhat mono-. 
 tonous district, and has no obstacles to contend with 
 except the river Anio, which it twice crosses. The 
 ascent to Tibur too, though fairly steep, presents no 
 problems of engineering. The result is that the modern 
 road has followed the ancient line pretty closely, and no 
 deviations of importance are to be noticed until two- 
 thirds of the distance have been traversed, in the 
 neighbourhood of Bagni, where the change in the line is 
 probably due to the inundations of the sulphur springs, 
 which, until they were carried to the Anio by a canal 
 (constructed by the Commune of Tivoli with help from 
 Cardinals Ippolito d’Este and Bartolomeo della Cueva in 
 the sixteenth century) ran unchecked over the plain. 
 
 No milestones have been found between Rome and 
 Tibur—that given by many authors as the fourteenth 
 is a forgery. The positions of those which have been 
 discovered further along the road, however, make it 
 necessary that the distance between Rome and Tibur 
 should have been twenty miles, as the Antonine Itinerary 
 has it. This fact, however, involves us in considerable 
 difficulties, which will be dealt with below. 
 
 "Ts VIA TIBURTINA was one of the most important 
 
 938 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 It is, further, by no means certain by which gate the 
 original Via Tiburtina left the city. Hliilsen prefers 
 the theory that the road from the Porta Esquilina is the 
 original Via Tiburtina, though the name “ Tiburtina 
 Vetus’ is not vouched for by any classical authority 
 and is only retained for convenience. This seems to be 
 the most probable supposition, inasmuch as the arch 
 erected by Augustus in 5 B.c. for the passage of the Aquae 
 Marcia Tepula and Iulia, bearing an inscription recording 
 his restoration of them (which was incorporated in the - 
 outer half of the Porta Tiburtina of the Aurelian wall) 
 points to the importance of the road which passed under 
 it, while we find that the straight road from the Porta 
 Viminalis passed through the Aurelian wall by a small 
 postern, which was closed at some unknown period. 
 We may notice, too, that the earliest tombs which flanked 
 the “ Tiburtina Vetus”? were found to date from the 
 beginning of the Imperial period. 
 
 Along the first part of the course of the road various 
 discoveries have been made, the most notable being that 
 of the “‘ Tomba della Medusa ” excavated in 1839, which 
 lay on the N. of the road. It is a square chamber in 
 opus quadratum of travertine and contained three fine 
 _ sarcophagi (from one of which it takes its name) which 
 are now in the Lateran. Other discoveries of tombs, etc., 
 were made in the course of the work of building the great 
 modern hospital (the Policlinico); but they are mostly 
 of minor importance. 
 
 Beyond the Policlinico the course of the road was not 
 traceable, even before the changes caused by the growth 
 of the city of to-day, but if prolonged it would fall into 
 the line of the modern highroad near the point where it 
 is joined by the so-called Via Cupa (dark lane), i.e. where 
 it turns almost at right angles from N.N.E. to E. The | 
 fact that this change of direction brings it into the same 
 straight line with the road from the Porta Viminalis is 
 certainly an argument in favour of the claim of the latter 
 to be regarded as the original Via Tiburtina. The question 
 is, in fact, one of considerable difficulty, and with the 
 94 
 
THE VIA TIBURTINA 
 
 evidence at our disposal it is difficult to arrive at a definite 
 conclusion. 
 
 We may now return to the Porta Tiburtina, now known 
 as the Porta San Lorenzo, and follow the line taken by 
 the modern road. 
 
 The Porta Tiburtina was made up of two parts—the 
 outer portion was formed by the aforementioned arch 
 made by Augustus to carry the aqueducts, and on the 
 outside Honorius added another arch and two towers 
 flanking it. The inner arch was also constructed by 
 Honorius, who restored the walls about a.p. 400, as the 
 inscription records. The whole of the inner arch was 
 removed by Pius IX in 1869. The tower on the right 
 hand of the gate has in its base some travertine blocks 
 from a tomb, one of which bears an inscription. 
 
 The construction of a new quarter has completely 
 altered the appearance of the Via Tiburtina between the 
 gate and San Lorenzo, and all traces of antiquity have 
 entirely disappeared. At some point before the first 
 milestone was reached the tomb of Pallas, the freedman 
 and Finance Minister of Claudius, was situated. 
 
 The original basilica of San Lorenzo was erected by 
 Constantine, but was quite small. Pelagius enlarged it, 
 and Honorius III in 1218 built the forepart and destroyed 
 the older apse, and also built the portico in front. 
 
 The name “Campo Verano,” by which the modern 
 cemetery is known, is of classical origin, coming perhaps 
 from the possessors of the ground in Roman times. In 
 one of the crypts of the extensive catacomb of S. Cyriaca 
 S. Laurence was buried, and a site for the basilica was 
 only obtained by cutting away the rock and thus destroy- 
 ing a portion of the catacomb, in order to bring the tomb 
 of the saint into its right position in the church—that is, 
 in the centre of it, immediately in front of the apse. 
 Many discoveries have been, and still are, made in the 
 cemetery from time to time. 
 
 A strong argument against the supposition of some 
 writers that the Via Tiburtina passed through the Campo 
 Verano is the fact that on the left of the modern high- 
 
 ' 95 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 road lies the catacomb of S. Hippolytus, which, had it 
 not been divided from that of S. Cyriaca by the Via 
 Tiburtina, would not have had a name of its own. The 
 statue of the saint (now in the Lateran Museum) which 
 was found here is important as being a genuine pro- 
 duction of Christian Art of the third century after 
 Christ. 
 
 A little further on, the highroad crosses the railway to 
 
 Florence. The construction of the bridge led to the 
 discovery of a series of underground passages intended 
 for use as cisterns and converted into a place of burial 
 in the first century B.c. 
 - The construction of the fort on the right of the road, 
 some 500 yards to the N.N.E., led to the discovery of 
 a large and splendid villa, belonging to the first century 
 A.D. The drainage of the villa was extremely well 
 arranged, all the rain-water being carefully collected and 
 conveyed by shafts into a network of passages cut in the 
 rock and lined with cement. At the bottom of one of 
 these shafts a statue of Apollo was found. The tract of 
 country bounded by the highroad on the S., the railway 
 on the W., and the Anio on the N. and E., forms the 
 Tenuta di Pietralata, and contains extensive tufa quarries, 
 some of which may be ancient. 
 
 There is nothing of interest until we reach the River 
 Anio, which the modern road crosses by a new bridge, 
 returning to the old line a mile further on; while the old 
 Ponte Mammolo (a name which can be traced back as far 
 as A.D. 1080) lies to the right. It was built of blocks of tufa 
 and travertine, and one of its ancient arches still remains 
 in part, though damaged in 1849, when it was broken by 
 the French. Here the Emperor Henry V and Pope 
 Paschal II concluded their well-known agreement over 
 the investitures in 1111. 
 
 Just where the ancient road is joined by the present 
 line a branch road diverged from it to the N. Some 
 traces of its pavement and of a group of tombs connected 
 with it and of a large villa were found in excavations in 
 1878 and may still be seen, though a quarry railway has 
 96 
 
THE VIA TIBURTINA 
 
 done a certain amount of damage. Whether it went as 
 far as the Via Nomentana is uncertain. 
 
 At Settecamini, the next point of interest, a road 
 diverges to the left, and eventually reaches the village of 
 Montecelio. Its antiquity—it cannot be recommended to 
 the motorist, and is not even passable for carriages—is 
 demonstrated by the cuttings made for it through the 
 hills, and by the existence of some characteristic paving 
 at one point. Some authors have, indeed, thought it to be 
 the original Via Tiburtina; and, while this is uncertain, 
 it must be confessed that, without a greater detour than 
 is taken by the later road (following the present highroad 
 more or less), it is impossible to arrive at the distance of 20 
 miles from Rome which the Itineraries give. The number- 
 ing of the milestones beyond Tibur would naturally have 
 been maintained, even if a later improvement, made we 
 know not at what period, shortened the distance from 
 - Rome to Tibur to 184 miles. 
 
 The country is bare and undulating, but was more 
 thickly populated in antiquity: and one of the most 
 interesting ruins in the Campagna is to be found close by 
 the road half a mile N.E. of an extinct volcanic crater 
 known as the Laghetto di Marco Simone. Here is an 
 extremely well-preserved circular building constructed 
 entirely below-ground, in the second century after Christ. 
 It is so completely hidden that we only found it by noticing 
 some bushes on an otherwise bare hill-side, which proved 
 to be growing round the window on the S.W., by which 
 alone it can now be entered. The roof is domed and, like 
 the Pantheon, had a round hole in it to admit light and 
 air: it is decorated with plain white mosaic, which is 
 almost perfect—and is, so far as I know, the earliest 
 dome in existence so decorated; the claim of that of the 
 Imperial mausoleum at Spalato, which belongs to the time 
 of Diocletian, being thus definitely set aside. The walls of 
 the lower part are composed of very fine brickwork, and 
 there is a brick cornice just below the dome. Where the 
 entrance was, or what is the level of the floor, it is 
 impossible to say, for the interior is full of debris; nor 
 
 G 97 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 have I ever found any record of it since I first came upon 
 it about twenty years ago. 
 
 To the N.E. are the ruins of a small fortified village of 
 the eighth century after Christ—a curtis, as it is called: 
 the enclosure wall remains for some 100 yards on the W. ; 
 but the church, which must have existed, has disappeared : 
 while to the N.E. is a tomb of interesting construction. 
 The internal chamber is in the form of a Greek cross, in 
 which are four shafts for ventilation: on the top of it 
 was a round drum. The whole was enclosed by a wall in 
 which there were niches, constructed of concrete, faced, 
 like the tomb itself, with opus reticulatum and brickwork, 
 and probably belonging to the second century after 
 Christ. 
 
 Beyond this point the road presents no features of 
 interest, and we may return to Settecamini. 
 
 The name refers to the seven chimneys of the old farm- 
 house, with its fine sixteenth-century door: but the num- 
 ber seven alludes also to the seven sons of Santa Sinforosa, 
 a martyr. The remains of the church dedicated to her 
 were ¢xcavated in 187 8, and still may be seen, built into 
 a modern house, on the edge of the tramway, a couple of 
 miles further along. Rather over a mile due §. across 
 the Anio is Lunghezza on the Via Collatina, to which a 
 modern winding road turns off a little further back. 
 
 On the left is the large mediaeval Castell’ Arcione, 
 recently restored, with well-preserved walls and towers 
 and a lofty square central keep. The name is that of a 
 family of considerable importance in Rome in the thir- 
 teenth century, to whom the castle belonged. A little 
 way beyond it to the E. the pavement of the ancient 
 road has come to light in a field, showing that it cut over 
 the shoulder of the hill and avoided the windings of the 
 modern road. 
 
 To the N. is the conspicuous farmhouse known as Tor 
 di Sordi, taking its name from another Roman family of 
 the Middle Ages. 
 
 A little further on the road emerges from the undulating 
 pasture-land, which it has so far traversed, into a desolate 
 98 
 
3. SULPHUR LAKE NEAR BAGNI (Pp. 99). 
 
 [Anderson, Photo 
 
 (p. 108). 
 
 "Ss VIELA 
 
 ER BATHS, HADRIAN 
 
 tHE LARG 
 
 4 
 
 To face p. 99. 
 
THE VIA TIBURTINA 
 
 flat plain, covered by the incrustations deposited by the 
 sulphur springs of the Aquae Albulae. They are so con- 
 siderable that a small lake known as the Lago dei Tartari, 
 which was in existence not many years ago, is now com- 
 pletely dried up and filled in: and if we follow the modern 
 road to Montecelio, which turns off just here, and which 
 probably presents an ancient line, up to the Lago della 
 Regina, we shall find that it, too, is continually restricting 
 its own area by the amount of deposit left on its banks 
 (Fig. 3). The water is bluish, and strongly impregnated 
 with sulphur and carbonate of lime. It was in use in 
 Roman days, for on the W. bank of the lake are the con- 
 siderable remains of a large building which was used as 
 a thermal establishment—though its attribution to Marcus 
 Agrippa and to Zenobia, the Queen of Palmyra, whom 
 Aurelian brought in captivity to Rome, has nothing to 
 recommend it. 
 
 The building was decorated with statues of Aesculapius, 
 Hygeia, Apollo Lycius, etc., with columns of verde antico 
 marble, and other works of art; so that it must have 
 been of a certain magnificence. A metrical inscription 
 records that a man, whose name is unknown, dedicated 
 to the nymph Albula, the tutelary deity of the springs, 
 a bronze head of his wife, whose complexion had been 
 restored by the use of the baths. Another dedication, 
 with a portrait of himself, was set up by a man who had 
 been suffering from the results of a wound by a wild boar 
 at Rusellae in Etruria. Dedications to the Aquae Albulae 
 and to Hercules by various people were also found, and 
 this fact would seem to show in itself that they were 
 available for pubic use. Another gave us only the name 
 of Thespis, the founder of Greek tragedy, and was carved 
 on a herma which once bore a head of him. 
 
 A short distance to the E. is the Casale S. Antonio, 
 near which is some flat ground which has been known as 
 Conche ever since 1886: and inasmuch as we are told 
 that Aurelian assigned to Zenobia a villa in the territory 
 of Tibur, not far from the villa of Hadrian, nor from that 
 place which is called Concae, the coincidence may be 
 
 99 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 sufficient to establish this site. If not, it is at least 
 sufficiently curious: and we shall not find that many of 
 the traditional names for the ancient villas in the territory 
 of Tivoli (the remains of which are both numerous and 
 considerable) are as well vouched for as this. Thus, the 
 attempt to find here the villa of Regulus, a lawyer of 
 Martial’s time, is due to a false interpretation; it was 
 really 4 miles from Rome, not from Tivoli. 
 
 At the station of Bagni, on the highroad, is the modern 
 bathing establishment, where in summer a bath in the 
 sulphur water (the temperature being about 75° Fahr.) 
 is not at all unpleasant, and the strong smell of sulphuretted 
 hydrogen is not noticed after a short while. 
 
 Immediately to the E. of it the railway to Tivoli and 
 the Adriatic crosses the road: and after it we come to 
 a surprisingly well-preserved portion of the ancient road. 
 The road-bed, flanked by large blocks of travertine, is 
 fairly well preserved; while its lava pavement has been 
 taken up bodily and used in a modern wall: but on each 
 side of it there are a number of sepulchral inscriptions 
 still in position, on travertine cippi, which belonged to 
 the tombs on each side of the road. They seem to belong 
 to the end of the Republic. The road has been a good 
 deal damaged by searchers for building material; and 
 Pope Leo X, in a letter of 1519 to the people of Tivoli, 
 thanks them for the blocks of travertine which they had 
 allowed him to take for the building of S. Peter’s. 
 
 To the W. of the quarries is the group of half-ruined 
 houses known as the Casaccia del Barco, one of which 
 stands on a large ancient tomb—a mass of concrete, with 
 a circular chamber in the interior, lined with blocks of 
 travertine. The name is a corruption of Parco, and 
 alludes to the hunting-park of Cardinal Ippolito d’Este. 
 But long before his day other princes of the Church had 
 amused themselves here in a similar way. A poem 
 written in 1503 by Cardinal Adriano Castellesi describes 
 a, day’s hunting near the Aquae Albulae in company with 
 Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, in which he makes Diana par- 
 ticipate and recline at rest with him. Leo X and, in 
 100 
 
THE VIA TIBURTINA 
 
 March 1532, Cardinal Ippolito dei Medici took part in 
 similar sports. 
 
 The quarries must at that time have been completely 
 abandoned, and their sheer walls of rock, covered by, the 
 deposit of the Aquae Albulae (which after the classical 
 period must have run unchecked on the plain), would 
 have served as a useful enclosure for the various animals 
 that were kept there. The working of the quarries was, 
 as a fact, resumed only a few years ago, after having 
 been, as it seems, entirely given up since Roman times. 
 
 To that period, then, we must assign an aqueduct on 
 arches which ends at the quarries, and can have no other 
 raison d éire—despite the fact that its construction is so 
 bad that it might be attributed to almost any age. The 
 quarries were very extensive, and the large heap of refuse, 
 _ close to the Anio, shows that the workings must have 
 continued for many years. The quality of the travertine 
 (Lapis Tiburtinus, or Tivoli stone, is its ancient name) is 
 extremely good, and very different from that of the porous 
 superficial deposit which is largely the product of the 
 sulphur springs. 
 
 We soon reach the bridge over the Anio, passing close 
 to a small chapel dedicated to S. Hermes, erected by Pope 
 Hadrian IV (Nicholas Breakspeare) in 1155, perhaps on 
 the spot where he celebrated Mass on S. Peter’s Day, 
 after he went to Tusculum with Frederic Barbarossa. 
 Here the ancient road is joined by the modern, which 
 presents no features of interest. The bridge is picturesque 
 and very fairly well preserved, though the bed of the 
 river, and consequently its level, has probably risen since 
 Roman times, for little can be seen of the lower part of 
 the bridge. It had five arches in stone, four of which can 
 still be seen; but it has been repaired in mediaeval times. 
 It bears the name of Ponte Lucano, which is already found 
 in the twelfth century, though its origin is unknown (for 
 the supposed inscription of M. Plautius Lucanus is a 
 forgery). It was, of course, an important strategic point 
 in the Middle Ages. Close by its E. end stands the large 
 circular mausoleum of the Plautii, which was surrounded, 
 
 101 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 like the mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome, by a low square 
 base, of which little is now left. It is a remarkably fine 
 specimen of a Roman tomb, but the chamber in the 
 interior, which is circular, with the vault supported by a 
 round pillar in the centre, is not accessible. The arms of 
 Paul II, who restored it in 1465, still remain. It was built 
 by M. Plautius Silvanus, who was consul in 2 B.c., for 
 himself and his wife; as time passed his little son was 
 buried there, then his son P. Plautius Pulcher and Tiberius 
 Plautius Silvanus Aelianus, whose relationship to him is 
 uncertain, but who is of interest as having taken part in 
 Claudius’s expedition to Britain. 
 
 At the tomb a road diverges to the right which, in 
 ancient times as now, was an important link between the 
 various roads radiating from Rome, serving as a means 
 of communication between the Via Tiburtina and the 
 Via Praenestina. It intersects the modern road to Poli 
 at the Osteria delle Capannelle, and joins the Via Prae- 
 nestina at S. Maria di Cavamonte. 
 
 Between Ponte Lucano and Tivoli the exact course of 
 the ancient road is at first undeterminable, as the ground 
 is under cultivation and no traces of it remain: but it is 
 almost certain that it ran in a fairly straight line to join 
 the lane which eventually ascends past the Tempio della 
 Tosse. The modern road runs further to the S., and, 
 500 yards from the bridge, passes to the left of two ancient 
 rectangular tombs, both built of large blocks of travertine, 
 each of which serves as the foundation of a small modern 
 house. The lower part of each tomb contained a chamber 
 at the ground level, while the upper part was decorated 
 with a bas-relief. One of the two, indeed, has still this 
 decoration, a panel of Parian marble in which is repre- 
 sented a man holding a horse by the bridle; while the 
 relief belonging to the other is now in the Villa Albani, 
 and its subject is, according to Mrs. Strong, a priest or an 
 initiate, though it has more often been considered to 
 represent the favourite occupations of the deceased. 
 
 From an examination of the various MSS. of Pirro 
 Ligorio we learn that these tombs formed part of a group 
 102 
 
THE VIA TIBURTINA 
 
 of four. The remains of the other two were still visible 
 in his day, and indeed one of them he actually saw 
 destroyed for building material. The relief of one of 
 them, representing a large lion, is in the Palazzo Barberini 
 in*Rome, while that of the other was apparently not 
 preserved even then. 
 
 It is not unnatural that these monuments should have 
 been believed to be pillars which flanked the entrance to 
 Hadrian’s Villa; and indeed they were imitated by 
 Asprucci in designing the entrance to the Villa Borghese 
 in Rome, close to the Muro Torto. But their inequality 
 in size and other reasons make this idea an improbable 
 one—even though it is probably quite true that the main 
 road leading to Hadrian’s Villa actually passed between 
 them. We may well believe, however, that there was 
 another more direct road from Ponte Lucano, though the 
 evidence is not entirely sufficient. A line which is cer- 
 tainly ancient, on the other hand, and is probably of older 
 origin, is that which runs in a, fairly straight line from the 
 road from Ponte Lucano to Corcolle (itself a necessary line 
 of communication) in an E.N.E. direction. It crosses the 
 road mentioned above at right angles (some of its pave- 
 ment is still preserved), and then ascends through the 
 olives right up to the S. extremity of the city of Tivoli, 
 where a piece of its pavement was found in 1883, just 
 outside Porta S. Croce. It would seem that this was the 
 most direct route from Rome to the important group of 
 villas to the S. of Tibur, of which we shall speak later. 
 But why did it start, not from Ponte Lucano, but nearly 
 a mile to the S. of it? There is nothing in the configura- 
 tion of the ground on either bank of the Anio to explain 
 the reason, nor was there, so far as I know, any crossing 
 of the river opposite to its termination; had there been, 
 it would have led into a quarry district, thoroughly 
 unsuitable for swift passenger traffic such as one would 
 have expected between these villas and Rome. 
 
 The villa begun by the Emperor Hadrian, according to 
 his biographer, on his return from his first Journey to the 
 East in A.D. 125, is situated just below the olive-clad 
 
 * 103 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 slopes of Tivoli.t It recalls to our minds very different 
 associations from those which the word “ villa” brings 
 up in England, and even the great villas of the Renaissance 
 must give place to its vast extent. The tourist who once 
 ignorantly spoke of it as Hadrian’s village was not so far 
 wrong as he seemed to be. Situated on a plateau between 
 two valleys, both of them bounded by cliffs of volcanic 
 rock—the characteristic red tufa of the Campagna Romana 
 —its ruins occupy an extent of about 600 yards by 300, 
 though its gardens no doubt extended a good deal further 
 than the ruins. The site does not seem at first to be an 
 attractive one, and its unhealthiness in mediaeval and 
 modern times had made the choice of it appear even more 
 strange. But at a greater elevation space for these 
 immense buildings and the gardens which surrounded 
 them would not have been available. 
 
 Very little is known of the history of the villa. Its 
 construction began in A.D. 125 and went on during the 
 next ten years, during most of which time Hadrian was 
 absent from Rome. On his return in 135 he retired there 
 and continued to enlarge the villa, decorating it with 
 works of art, until in 188 he was seized by the illness 
 which caused his death. This, however, occurred at Baiae, 
 whither he had caused himself to be removed. 
 
 It is clear from the discovery of some imperial busts, 
 the latest of which represents Elagabalus (a.p. 218-222), 
 that the villa continued to be inhabited by Hadrian’s 
 successors until that date at least, and there are indeed 
 traces of work done there as late as the time of Diocletian, 
 when it was still known as the Palace of Hadrian. But 
 after this we know nothing of its history for over a 
 thousand years: that Totila took up his quarters there 
 in A.D. 544 is a mere conjecture, unsupported by any 
 evidence. 3 
 
 Earthquakes, no doubt, began the work of destruction, 
 and then it shared in the general desolation of the Cam- 
 
 1 A considerable portion of the text is reprinted from an article 
 on Hadrian’s Villa which I contributed to Wonders of the Past, 
 with the permission of the Editor, which I gratefully acknowledge. 
 
 104 
 
THE VIA TIBURTINA 
 
 pagna. It is noteworthy that its works of art were not 
 removed elsewhere in ancient times, and that its ruins 
 were not made use of in the Middle Ages for habitation, 
 but only as a quarry for building material. There are 
 indubitable traces of the use of its marble decorations 
 for burning into lime—the fate of so much of the ancient 
 marble with which Roman buildings were decorated. 
 
 Pope Pius IT visited it in 1461, and gives an account of 
 it which shows that it was then in much the same con- 
 dition as it is now: “Age has destroyed the form of 
 everything; ivy now clothes the walls that were covered 
 with tapestries and cloth of gold; thorns and brambles 
 have grown where tribunes sat, and snakes dwell in queens’ 
 chambers ; so unstable is the nature of all things mortal.” 
 
 With the Renaissance search began to be made for the 
 rich series of art treasures which it contained. Some of 
 the best finds were made in the first half of the eighteenth 
 century, including the famous mosaic of the doves, and 
 several portraits of Antinous, Hadrian’s young favourite. 
 Later on, the Scotsman, Gavin Hamilton, made Hadrian’s 
 Villa one of his chief centres of activity. The sculptures 
 which he discovered went in part to the Vatican, but 
 in the main to the Earl of Shelburne, and these last are 
 still at Lansdowne House. Others were dispersed among 
 various collections. The total number of works of art so 
 far discovered in the villa, so far as we know, is well 
 over 250, scattered all over the world in numerous public 
 and private collections. 
 
 The villa, we are told, contained imitations of the 
 famous buildings which Hadrian (who was one of the 
 most travelled of Roman Emperors) had seen and admired 
 all over the known world; attempts have been made by 
 the antiquaries to identify the ruins with the list of names 
 given us—not always with success, or even with probability. 
 
 There is, however, a key to what seems a chaos of 
 miscellaneous ruins jostling one another in picturesque 
 confusion, and that is the orientation of different parts 
 of the villa. If we follow the archaeologists who take 
 this as their guiding principle, we shall find that the whole 
 
 105 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 falls naturally (leaving aside a number of outlying detached 
 buildings, such as the two theatres and the connecting 
 links between the various portions) into four main divisions, 
 each centring round a large open space or courtyard : 
 the group of the Poikile, that of the main palace, that of 
 Canopus, and that of the “‘ Academy,” really a smaller 
 palace. 
 
 Taking these in order, we first come to the so-called 
 Poikile, now approached by a beautiful avenue of cypresses, 
 which derives its modern name from having been identified 
 with the “ Stoa Poikile’”’ (the varicoloured portico) at 
 Athens, so called from the paintings with which its walls 
 were decorated. Whether the name be correct or not, we 
 certainly have here a huge garden of the formal type once 
 surrounded by a peristyle. Its shape is imitated from 
 that of the stadium or hippodrome, a favourite one among 
 Roman gardens. 
 
 The N. wall is still standing to a considerable extent, 
 and was detached from the rest, with a space at each end 
 through which a chariot could pass. It was so arranged 
 that one could walk or drive on one side or other of it, 
 in the shade or in the sun, according to the season, at 
 any hour of the day. From an inscription we learn that 
 it bore the name of ‘‘ Porticus Triumphi ”’ (which it took 
 from the building of that name in Rome), and that seven 
 times its length was just over a mile. This was the length 
 of the Roman “ constitutional,” and evidently the ancients 
 liked to know the precise amount of ground they were 
 covering, for other inscriptions of the kind have been 
 found both in Rome and at Pompeii. 
 
 The central space was no doubt occupied by a formal 
 garden with box and laurel hedges cut into fantastic — 
 shapes. We know them not only from a letter of Pliny 
 the Younger, but from the frescoes (and in less degree — 
 from the gardens themselves) at Pompeii, and from some ~ 
 of the few formal gardens of the Renaissance villas of — 
 Rome and its neighbourhood which have escaped the — 
 caprice of altering tastes. . 
 
 In the centre of it is a large open tank of the same — 
 106 
 
THE VIA TIBURTINA 
 
 shape as the garden itself. From the W. extremity a 
 fine view of the desolate Campagna and of Rome itself— 
 especially towards sunset—is to be had. This part of 
 the garden is built out on an artificial terrace, and the 
 arched substructures which support the main embanking 
 wall were used to house the Imperial Guard or slaves. 
 The so-called “‘ Barracks of the Vigiles ’ in another part 
 of the villa should rather be considered to have been a 
 storehouse, not only for food-stuffs, but for furniture and 
 other objects of occasional use. 
 
 The remainder of the group contains a very finely 
 decorated room, which was probably used for a dining- 
 room in summer, unfortunately much devastated by 
 searchers after building material; it communicates with 
 the so-called ‘‘ stadium,’’ perhaps simply another garden 
 of that shape. Beyond it on the E. is another large court- 
 yard with an open tank in the centre; under the colon- 
 naded walk surrounding it is an underground passage, or 
 cryptoporticus, to provide shelter from the rain or even 
 from the Italian sun. 
 
 To the N.E. of the first group lies the second, the Imperial 
 palace proper, which is grouped round four main court- 
 yards of varying size. The first of these is known, quite 
 wrongly, as the “‘ Courtyard of the Libraries,’’ because 
 the Greek and Latin libraries have been thought to be 
 recognisable in some lofty buildings of irregular plan and 
 uncertain use on one side of it. On another is the so- 
 called ‘‘ Maritime Theatre,’’ which is probably not, as is 
 so often believed, the reproduction of an island with a 
 temple upon it which Hadrian had seen in his travels, 
 but simply an aviary. Its chief part corresponds with the 
 description given by Varro, and a Renaissance recon- 
 struction according to his description shows this clearly.* 
 
 Between this building and the so-called ‘* Poikile ”’ is 
 the great hall, wrongly called the ‘‘ Hall of the Philo- 
 sophers,”’ which, from its orientation, belongs in reality 
 to the first group. Close by is a set of baths, the only 
 
 1 The work of Pirro Ligorio—see p. 102, and cf. Mem. Amer. Acad. 
 II. pl. vi. p. 12; Journal of Roman Studies, ix. 66. oa 
 
 10 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 portion of the villa which has been excavated in the last 
 few years; they have their arrangements for heating still 
 remarkably well preserved. 
 
 At the opposite end of the courtyard is a building 
 known as the ‘‘ Hospitium ”’ or guests’ quarters—perhaps 
 correctly, for here we have a number of small chambers, 
 five on each side opening on to a central hall, each con- 
 taining three niches for a bed. The mosaic pavements of 
 the floors are remarkably well preserved. Close by is a 
 terrace overlooking the valley on the N.E. which is 
 generally identified with the Vale of Tempe, which is 
 now planted with beautiful trees. Further on to the 
 S.E. are other sections of the palace—the part known as 
 the Piazza d’ Oro is perhaps especially interesting nowa- 
 days to the student of architecture, for many problems 
 relating to the construction of the dome find here their 
 first solution, and we may trace here the origin of some 
 of the most important features in the great bate of 
 the period of Constantine. 
 
 The ordinary visitor, if he is lucky enough to be there 
 in the late spring, when there is no chance of frost or rain, 
 will see some of the beautiful mosaic pavements with 
 which the whole villa was once decorated, but he will 
 have to trust to his imagination for the rest. For the 
 concrete walls, faced in part with brickwork, in part with 
 small voleanic stones, grey or brown, have lost the veneer 
 of marble, painted plaster, or stucco with which they were 
 once entirely covered both inside and out. The columns 
 that supported the roof of the peristyles, or decorated the 
 interior of once splendid halls, have gone, and their place 
 is only in some measure supplied by the grey-green olives 
 which grow in most of the open spaces of the villa. 
 In the spring, too, the brilliant colours of the mosaics are 
 almost surpassed by the wild violets and purple anemones 
 for which Hadrian’s Villa is famous. 
 
 The third group lies farther to the S., and contains 
 two separate groups of baths—the smaller of very elabor- 
 ate plan, with rooms of various shapes cleverly fitted in, 
 paved with many-coloured marbles. The larger (Fig. 4) is 
 108 
 
THE VIA TIBURTINA 
 
 remarkable for having in one of its halls a beautiful piece 
 of ceiling decoration in stucco. The main feature of the 
 group, however, is the Canopus, which took its name from 
 a city 15 miles from Alexandria on a canal branching off 
 from the Nile, celebrated for a temple of Serapis. Hadrian 
 constructed a reproduction of the canal and of the temple, 
 excavating an artificial valley some 200 yards long, with 
 a great niche at the end of it decorated with fountains. 
 The works of art which adorned it were a mixture of pure 
 Egyptian art and of imitations of the Roman period, and 
 a considerable number of them have been found at various 
 times. It is uncertain whether the fine statue of Antinous 
 in Egyptian costume was found here or elsewhere in the 
 villa. 
 
 Close by is the fourth and last group, the so-called 
 ‘“‘ Academy,’ which is in reality simply a smaller palace 
 arranged round a courtyard. It was decorated with 
 splendid works, the mosaic of the doves, the two centaurs, 
 the red marble faun—all now in the Capitoline Museum. 
 
 The Villa Bulgarini marks the S.E. point of Hadrian’s 
 Villa, and to the S. of it is the Colle S. Stefano, on which 
 lie the remains of another large villa. They were treated 
 as a part of Hadrian’s Villa until recently ; Winnefeld was 
 the first to exclude them; and a few years later, from the 
 discovery of the fragments of a slab with an inscription on 
 each side of it, it became probable that they belonged 
 first to one C. Julius Plancius Varus Cornutus, probably 
 the adopted son of C. Julius Cornutus Tertullus, Pliny the 
 Younger’s colleague in the consulship in a.p. 100. It then 
 belonged to Vibius Varus, who was governor of Cyprus 
 under Hadrian, and consul in 4.p. 134.1. The brick-stamps 
 begin with the middle of the first century after Christ and 
 go down to A.D. 128. 
 
 The principal building is a large rectangular platform 
 facing S.E., upon which there was a large peristyle 100 feet 
 square, excavated at the end of the eighteenth century. 
 It was surrounded by rooms, especially on the S., with 
 
 1 Baddeley, Villa of the Vibii Vari. Gloucester, 1906. _ 
 109 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 a fountain on the W. At present, however, nothing is to 
 be seen but a rectangular chamber, decorated with niches 
 internally, at the S. angle above the deep ravine of the 
 Fosso di Ponte Terra. In this chamber, it is said, was 
 found a slab of marble bearing the inscription Lucu(s) 
 Sanctu(s): but whether it was originally set up here is 
 rather doubtful, inasmuch as this could hardly be called 
 a sacred grove. It is more likely that it was built into 
 the enclosure wall of an actual sacred grove not far off. 
 
 The construction of this chamber is extremely irregular, 
 though not dissimilar to that which is found in Hadrian’s 
 Villa itself. The platform was partly surrounded by a 
 cryptoporticus, decorated with painted portraits of Greek 
 poets. A century ago the names of some of them could 
 be read, but they are now obliterated. 
 
 The N.E. side of the peristyle is continued N.E. by a 
 substruction wall strengthened with buttresses. At the 
 S.E. extremity of this wall is the supposed amphitheatre 
 —really, it would seem, a water reservoir with four or five 
 concentric walls of elliptical shape, the respective diameters 
 being 184 feet (56 metres) and 112 feet (34°20 metres). 
 
 To the N. of this reservoir is a Christian baptistery, 
 hexagonal in plan, preserved to a considerable height. It 
 belonged no doubt to the church of S. Stephen, which 
 gave its name to the hill. It is possible that Ligorio 
 actually saw the church—a basilica with nave and two 
 aisles—though nothing is now to be seen. 
 
 To the N.W. is a lower terrace with a large exedra, 
 projecting northwards. The substruction walls probably 
 extended even further, but cannot now be traced. Remains 
 of other cisterns are to be seen, including a large trape- 
 zoidal open tank: and to the N.E. of this there is yet 
 another platform with traces of buildings upon it. 
 
 These important buildings were approached by two 
 roads, both descending southwards from Tivoli—one a 
 branch of the road ascending to Porta S. Croce and the 
 other a branch of the Strada di Carciano. They intersect 
 on the Colle di S. Stefano, and both cross the deep Fosso 
 di Ponte Terra which lies to the S. of it—the westernmost 
 110 
 
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6, VILLAGE OF S, VITTORINO (p. IIT). 
 
 To face pi-1L1, 
 
THE VIA TIBURTINA 
 
 by a large viaduct, a massive structure in concrete 56 feet 
 (17 metres) high and 14 feet (4°10 metres) wide, with two 
 tiers of arches, one below and four above. It lies in very 
 picturesque surroundings (Fig. 5). The other road—a lane 
 not more than 64 feet wide—is crossed by a natural bridge 
 in the rock, spanning a cleft which, if not entirely artificial, 
 has certainly been enlarged by the hand of man. The 
 channel is about 200 feet in length, 30 in height, and 6 in 
 width, and is one of the many examples of the regulation 
 of streams by the Romans which a careful examination of 
 the Campagna will reveal. 
 
 After crossing the plateau to the S., the road may have 
 led on to the picturesque site of the village of S. Vittorino 
 (Fig. 6). It occupies a naturally strong position, but there 
 is no evidence to prove whether it was occupied in Roman 
 times or not. 
 
 Returning to the older—though perhaps not the oldest— 
 line of the Via Tiburtina, we find that, at or near the site 
 of the eighteenth milestone, an inscription recording the 
 repair of the steep ascent to Tibur (the Clivus Tiburtinus) 
 under the Emperors Constantius and Constans between 
 A.D. 840 and 850 was found in 1735. It has been re- 
 erected where it was found. A similar inscription may 
 refer to the repair of the Ponte dell’ Acquoria, which 
 crosses the Anio below us to the left. The road to it 
 branches off at the top of the slope, just before which we 
 pass on the right the so-called Tempio della Tosse—a name 
 which might come from M. Turcius Secundus Apronianus, 
 who was in charge of the repairs to the road, and who 
 may have built it as his family mausoleum. It is a 
 picturesque octagonal structure with a domed roof and 
 a circular interior—perhaps a tomb: and it has been 
 drawn and studied by artists and architects of all times 
 and all nations, who of course have been specially busy 
 at. Tivoli. 
 
 The same is the case with the next ancient building we 
 reach ; for a little higher up our road, in an arched passage, 
 goes under the huge substructions of the building known 
 till a century ago as the Villa of Maecenas. It was con- 
 
 111 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 structed on the road, as two inscriptions record, by two 
 local officials, the quattuorvirt L. Octavius Vitulus and 
 C. Rustius Flavus, in accordance with a decision of the 
 senate of the town: and was certainly, as many recently 
 discovered inscriptions show, a building connected with 
 the cult of Hercules and Augustus, and in fact formed 
 part of the great temple of Hercules Victor, the protecting 
 deity of Tibur. The arches support a square courtyard, 
 surrounded by arcades, in the centre of which were struc- 
 tures perhaps belonging to a temple: but the whole 
 interior of it is now occupied by a paper mill. The temple, 
 like that of Fortune at Praeneste, extended from the 
 Imperial period onwards right up the hill-side, being formed 
 of a series of great terraces, supported by massive sub- 
 structures and arcades: and the cella of the temple itself 
 was here, too, circular, and is still to be seen behind the 
 apse of the cathedral. Like the building we have been 
 describing, it is also of opus incertum, and probably dates 
 from before the Imperial period. It seems possible, 
 inasmuch as a forum and a vicus patricius are referred to 
 in the neighbourhood of the Cathedral of Tivoli in a 
 document of a.D. 978, that, as Pacifici thinks, the original 
 temple of Hercules was comparatively small, and situated 
 in the forum of the late Republican period, to which he 
 also attributes the arched substructions under the Piazza 
 dell’ Olmo and the massive stone arch with a large hall 
 attached to it on the way up to the cathedral. 
 
 Then, in the Augustan Age, when, as it would appear 
 from the inscriptions, Augustus and the Imperial House 
 came to share the divine honours of Hercules—the old 
 guild of worshippers of the one took on the worship of 
 the other, so that the very treasury of Hercules came to 
 be officially called the treasury of Hercules and Augustus. 
 It was then that the temple was largely extended down 
 the hill and the so-called Villa of Maecenas built. And it 
 was then that one M. Varenus Diphilus, ‘“‘ Magister 
 Herculaneus,”’ built a hall close to the old temple, con- 
 taining the public weights and measures of Tibur; in 
 which, perhaps, was the relief of Hercules Tunicatus 
 112 
 
8. NYMPHAEUM UNDER S. ANTONIO, TIVOLI (p. I14). 
 To face 7p. 113° 
 
THE VIA TIBURTINA 
 
 mentioned by Pliny, and near to which a little while ago 
 was found in another chamber a statue of an emperor 
 and a head of Nerva (which, however, does not fit on to 
 it). An inscription shows that this little chamber was 
 erected by the same man with a prayer for Augustus’s 
 safe return during one of his last journeys. 
 
 It is of this enlarged temple that the writers of the 
 Imperial age speak—Juvenal, who mentions it as resembling 
 the temple of Fortune at Praeneste, and Martial, who 
 calls Tiber itself Herculeum. A reconstruction of it by 
 a competent architect is much to be desired, as a parallel 
 to Mr. Bradshaw’s work at Praeneste. 
 
 In the lower part of the picturesque mediaeval town, 
 then, we have to seek the site of this great sanctuary. 
 But more famous still are the two small temples—one 
 circular with Corinthian columns, the other rectangular 
 with Ionic columns—which stand at the top of the town, 
 on a rock above the old waterfall of the Anio. The rock 
 would probably have been eaten away by now had not 
 Gregory XVI had a new channel made to carry off the 
 river further away from the town, out of danger. 
 
 The two temples are traditionally attributed to Vesta 
 and the Sibyl of Tibur—for Varro adds Albunea, a water 
 goddess worshipped on the banks of the Anio, to the nine 
 Sibyls of whom the Greek writers speak (Fig. 7). 
 
 This lofty point, well defended by the Anio, must have 
 been the citadel of the ancient city, though the line of its 
 walls cannot be traced by any actual remains. It was 
 founded, according to tradition, by Tiburtus, Corax, and 
 Catillus, grandsons of Amphiarus of Argos, and the last 
 has given his name to the Monte Catillo above the modern 
 railway station. This hill Turner, among many others, 
 climbed for a view of the town and the deep gorge of the 
 river. Tivoli is on the edge of the Sabine mountains, 
 guarding the pass to the upper valley of the Anio and the 
 interior of the complicated mountain system which forms 
 the backbone of the peninsula and extends uninterruptedly 
 as far as the Adriatic. It must, in the days of its inde- 
 pendence, have been a very powerful city, with roads 
 
 H 113 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 leading to the outlying forts by which its sway was 
 maintained. 
 
 It came into collision with the Romans in the fourth 
 century B.c., and thrice the latter were able to celebrate 
 triumphs over it; but it did not lose its independence, 
 more wisely becoming an ally of Rome. In the later 
 centuries of the Republic, and under the Empire, it was 
 a favourite summer resort, and both Augustus and Maecenas 
 had villas here, and—though it be disputed by some—I 
 think Horace also. It is certain that a house was shown 
 as his during the time of Suetonius; and there is no 
 adequate reason for doubting the truth of the tradition. 
 As Mr. G. H. Hallam has convincingly shown, no site 
 suits Horace’s frequent references to Tibur half so well as 
 the villa of the Augustan period under the monastery of 
 S. Antonio, facing the waterfall—giving, not on to the open 
 Campagna, like the great villas to the S., but on to the 
 wild and romantic gorge of the Anio, where there was 
 room for but a few others. A good deal of this villa is 
 still preserved, and notably a fine nymphaeum (Fig. 8). 
 
 A little further on and further down is a projecting 
 spur covered with olives; and here are the remains of 
 an immense villa. The site has been called Quintiliolum 
 ‘since the tenth century, and the attribution to Quintilius 
 Varus, the friend of Horace, is therefore to be accepted. 
 The remains are picturesque: they consist of an upper 
 terrace, upon which the house must have stood—in the 
 sides of it is a ecryptoporticus, an underground passage 
 lighted only by a few windows, which was always cool 
 and fresh in summer. On the lower terrace is a large 
 open tank, and near this the great supporting wall of the 
 S.W. end falls off sheer to the slopes below. 
 
 Here we have a choice of two routes, if we will explore 
 the territory of Tibur on the N. We may follow on along 
 the hill-side, where the modern road runs, sometimes above, 
 sometimes below the railway: or we may descend to the 
 Ponte dell’ Acquoria, and thence traverse the vineyards 
 at the foot of the hills. In either case we shall find a 
 district full of remains of antiquity, and be able to realise 
 114 
 
THE VIA TIBURTINA 
 
 that the modern habit of villeggiatura has its roots deep 
 in the customs of the Rome of the late Republic. If we 
 take the first road we shall be following one of the roads 
 which led from Tibur down to a detached fort on the hill 
 known now as the Colle Turrita (from a mediaeval castle 
 which crowns it) above Palombara—Marcellina railway 
 station. The modern road has in part obliterated it, but 
 remains of its supporting walls of large blocks of stone 
 ~may still be seen, and there are similar remains within the 
 castle. Originally the road went no further. But later 
 on—we do not know when—it was prolonged past Mar- 
 cellina, Palombara, and Moricone (we must give the 
 modern names, because no ancient names are known to 
 us) until it reached the Via Salaria at the twenty-sixth 
 mile from Rome. It thus formed a very important inter- 
 mediate line of communication for the whole of this 
 district. 'The remains of villas which lie on its course, on 
 sites sheltered from the E. and N.E. by the lofty Monte 
 Gennaro and its spurs, are far too numerous to be men- 
 tioned individually ; and I may only remark here that 
 _ many of them have platforms of limestone in the so-called 
 Cyclopean style. 
 
 Again, when we reach Palombara, we shall find terrace 
 walls of rough construction on the mountain-side—several 
 of them one above the other, which are either the sites of 
 prehistoric settlements or (more probably) perhaps terraces 
 for supporting the soil for cultivation—lynchets, as they 
 would be called in England. Still, we cannot give a name 
 to them—and the attempt to find sites for what have 
 been called ‘‘ the lost and mislaid cities of Latium ”’ has 
 been proved to be unsuccessful. 
 
 We may return, then, to the lower road northward from 
 Tivoli, which crossed the Anio by the Ponte dell’ Acquoria. 
 This bridge must have had originally some seven arches, 
 of which only that at the N. extremity is preserved ; 
 but the pavement may be seen to the N. of it, and the 
 ancient road ran on in a straight line for a mile or two, 
 passing to the left of the villa attributed to Ventidius 
 _ Bassus with its three great terraces, between Colle Nocelle 
 115 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 and the S. end of the Colle Vitriano, both of which have 
 numerous remains of large villas well provided with water 
 reservoirs. One of the former (Fig. 9) is interesting, 
 having its lower platform supported by a wall over 160 feet 
 in length of large limestone blocks with almost horizontal 
 courses, strengthened by small buttresses. The magnifi- 
 cence of the house that once stood there is shown by the 
 remains of coloured marbles which are to be found every- 
 where, and remains of a bath and of the furnaces by which 
 it was heated may still be seen. 
 
 If we follow the road, we find it turning N.W. until 
 it reaches an important ancient road junction, near the 
 modern Casale Battista, close to the railway. Here, 
 besides the road we have been following, we can trace four 
 others. One was more or less identical in line witha 
 modern road from the Via Tiburtina at Ponte Lucano, 
 which runs up over flat and uninteresting country and 
 goes on (probably not following an ancient line) to Mar- 
 cellina. A second is a prolongation of the road which 
 left the Via Tiburtina at Settecamini, and which thus 
 formed the most direct route from Rome to this district. 
 It goes on in an N.E. direction up and along a hill known 
 as the Colle della Colonnella, and falls into the ancient 
 road from Tivoli to the Via Salaria. That is the third 
 branch; and the fourth is the prolongation of the line 
 we have been following, N.N.W. up the valley to the E. 
 of the village of Montecelio, with a branch to Palombara. 
 Montecelio itself, and S. Angelo to the W. of it, were 
 approached from Rome by a branch of the Settecamini 
 road; while Palombara was also served by a branch 
 from the Via Nomentana. The country has by now 
 become a good deal more hilly, and, as far as appearances 
 go, any one of the hill-towns might justifiably lay claim 
 to the name Corniculum, as we can hardly fail to call the 
 whole group the Montes Corniculani. If we have to 
 assign the name Corniculum to any one of them, it would 
 be to Montecelio (the modern corruption of the old name . 
 Monticelli). For here, under the mediaeval fortification 
 walls of the castle which crowns the conical hill-top, there 
 116 
 
9. PLATFORM OF VILLA, COLLE VITRIANO (p. I16). 
 
 10. TERRACE WALL OF VILLA OF BRUTUS (?) (p. 121). 
 
 To face p. 116. 
 
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 oe 
 
THE VIA TIBURTINA 
 
 are the remains of walls in rough stone, which seem to 
 belong to the primitive enceinte. 
 
 Within the area of the castle there is also a small 
 Roman temple, built of brick-faced concrete, resting on 
 a stylobate about 5 feet high, and measuring some 26 by 
 14 feet; some pilasters with Corinthian capitals are still 
 preserved. The brickwork is very good, and was probably 
 meant to be left visible. 
 
 Both E. and W. of the village there is a very large villa 
 platform—the former in the valley below, close to the 
 fourth road mentioned as branching off from Casale 
 Battista, and the latter on the slopes traversed by the 
 road from Rome, on which indeed it lay. A large open 
 oval reservoir lies above it, while the villa itself has two 
 great terraces, the upper being about 100 paces square, with 
 a large cryptoporticus inside its supporting wall, and the 
 upper 240 paces one way and 140 the other. 
 
 The pavement of the old road can be seen descending 
 the hill, and it then fell into the line of the road from 
 Settecamini, partly represented by the modern road from 
 the station of Montecelio to S. Angelo, on its steep conical 
 hill. At this latter village, years ago, I searched in vain 
 for some polygonal walls which were actually drawn by 
 - Gell close to the church of S. Liberata, to the S. of the 
 village ; and on a second visit I was equally unsuccessful, 
 so that I can only conclude that they have been destroyed. 
 But there are remains of antiquity of some interest at the 
 foot of the hill, both N. and S. of the village. On the S., 
 at Vallemara, there is a particularly well-preserved villa 
 platform with a very perfect cryptoporticus and a large 
 reservoir 100 Roman feet long above it, divided into three 
 chambers each 114 feet wide; while there are on the N. 
 three circular cavities, once quarries, one of which was 
 lined with concrete in Roman days, and used to contain 
 an open reservoir some 80 feet in diameter and 6 deep: 
 and not far off are the terrace walls of a very large villa, 
 one of them being no less than 240 feet long and 10 high. 
 It is built of almost rectangular blocks of hewn stone, 
 well jointed and smoothed at the edges; and inasmuch 
 
 es 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 as it lies in low ground and in a hopeless position for 
 defence, it is impossible to identify it (as some, mistaking 
 its age and its object, have attempted to do) with 
 Ameriola, one of the lost cities of Latium once subdued 
 by Tarquin the Elder. To the W. we soon reach the 
 modern road to Palombara, into which come two branches 
 from Mentana, both of them probably of Roman origin. 
 The first has recently been made to take wheeled traffic, 
 but the second is a bridle-path : it passes the little hamlet 
 of Castel Chiodato, and where it falls into the modern 
 road the latter turns E. and runs straight to Palombara, 
 another village situated picturesquely on a hill, but con- 
 taining no relics of antiquity. A mile or more before we 
 reach it, to the right of the road 1 in a sheltered valley lies 
 the picturesque church of S. Giovanni in Argentella, 
 containing some interesting mediaeval frescoes. 
 
 Palombara, too, was an important road centre in 
 antiquity ; for here the road from Tibur to the Via 
 Salaria was joined by the Via Nomentana and the road 
 from Nomentum by a road from Casale Battista, and 
 by another road coming S.E. from the twenty-first mile 
 of the Via Salaria. It is not inappropriate to call atten- 
 tion to this fact, for until quite recent years, as we have 
 already remarked, the ancient Roman road system in 
 the Campagna, which resembled a spider’s web, had lost 
 all but its main lines, so that the modern roads radiated 
 from Rome in the centre like the rays of a starfish, without 
 any cross connexions. 
 
 From Palombara we may return to Tivoli, and complete 
 our study of the territory by leaving the town on the S. 
 and glancing for a few minutes at the group of villas which 
 
 are to be found on the slopes of the Monte Ripoli and — 
 
 Monte Arcese, commanding a wonderful view over the 
 Campagna and the Alban Hills, especially at sunset, when 
 the sun sinks behind the great dome of S. Peter’s. First 
 of all, the Villa d’Este claims our attention; for it will 
 give us as good an idea as we shall get from any existing 
 building of the elaborately decorated fountains which 
 played such a part in the architecture of the gardens of 
 118 : 
 
 ee ee 
 
THE VIA TIBURTINA 
 
 the villas of the classical period. The villa itself is un- 
 finished, and has lost the collection of statues which its 
 constructor, Cardinal Ippolito d’Este, had excavated here 
 and collected there until it became of considerable value 
 and importance. Most of it has been dispersed to the 
 four winds, and only a very few of the least valuable still 
 remain. But, even were this not so, we should never 
 visit Villa d’Este to see them only. Its charm is far 
 greater now, I am sure, when its fountains are moss- 
 grown and half-decayed, than when once decorated, as 
 engravings show, with rather blatant mosaics and late 
 Renaissance stone statues and architecture, plastered over 
 and painted in glaring colours, not in very good taste. 
 Its charm is added to by its great cypresses and the 
 wonderful views N. to the pointed Corniculan Hills, and 
 westward over the Campagna, with the modern highroad 
 like a white ribbon thrown down carelessly—for it does 
 not run straight by any means. Since the war the villa 
 has passed from the Hohenlohe family to the Italian 
 Government, and will at least be taken care of and 
 repaired when necessary and, we hope, kept up, but not 
 too drastically. 
 
 The road, after leaving Tivoli, very soon divides. The 
 Via di Carciano, as it is called, keeps up on the level above 
 the road to Rome; and the same was done by the 
 channels of the great aqueducts which conveyed the water 
 of the river itself, or of copious and excellent springs 
 (which form the main supply of the modern city) in its 
 valley, from the upper Anio to Rome. Remains of these 
 channels may be seen along the road,! and in some places 
 all the four—the uppermost the Anio Novus, then the 
 Aquae Claudia, then the Marcia, and then the Anio Vetus 
 —may be seen together or not far away from one another. 
 Accurate levelling along the whole of their course was 
 necessary to distinguish one from the other, and this was 
 
 1 The first piece visible was a portion of the channel of the Aqua 
 Marcia cut in the rock, passing behind a rock-cut tomb, just after 
 the modern Strada di S. Gregorio turns off to the right to the village 
 of that name. It has, however, quite recently been covered up 
 with earth. 
 
 "119 
 
i 
 
 THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 undertaken for me in 1915 by three Italian engineers, 
 the late Professor Reina and his assistants, Signor G. 
 Corbellini and Signor G. Ducci. I will not speak of them 
 in detail, as I hope shortly to publish a full description 
 of them. 
 
 The Via di Carciano is also remarkable for the great 
 beauty and age of the olive groves through which the road 
 passes. Of the dozen or so ancient villas which may 
 be found along its course and on the slopes below it we 
 need only speak in detail of three. The first is just at 
 the twenty-fifth kilometre of the modern highroad—in a 
 place known as pesoni as early as the tenth century— 
 and it has therefore been labelled Villa of the Pisones— 
 though which Pisones we do not know. More important 
 is the fact that here were seen in the fifteenth century 
 a number of hermae (twelve or thirteen it would_seem) 
 of Greek philosophers and poets, all without heads, while 
 sixteen others, with heads, were discovered in 1779, and 
 are now in Madrid. At the latter date the famous head 
 of Alexander now in the Louvre was discovered. A few 
 years earlier, twenty-one similar hermae, some with heads, 
 some without, were found a good deal higher up the hill, 
 where there are two great villas, each with its terraces, 
 just below the first part of the Strada di Carciano, which 
 is a corruption of Cassianus, a name found as far back as 
 the tenth century. What more natural, then, to suppose 
 that one was the villa of Cassius and the other the villa 
 of Brutus—especially as Cicero speaks of a villa of Brutus 
 at Tivoli? As far as date goes, the attribution would 
 be quite possible, and the only difficulty is to decide which 
 is which, in the absence of any other proof ! 
 
 There has naturally been a good deal of confusion. 
 From the sixteenth century to the last quarter of the 
 nineteenth the northern one of the two, just below the 
 summer residence of the Irish College in Rome (originally 
 built by Cardinal Salerno for the Greek College, and 
 therefore often called Villa dei Greci), bore the name of 
 Cassius. Its terrace walls are faced with opus reticulatum, 
 in which decorative patterns are made by the use of 
 120 
 
 a et ee Oe 
 
THE VIA TIBURTINA 
 
 stones of various colours. On the upper terrace there is 
 a nymphaeum with a large central niche, and a portico 
 with Doric columns to the right of it ; while in the central 
 one there is a cryptoporticus with an arched passage 
 behind. 
 
 The southern villa, some 500 yards further on, imme- 
 diately to the N. of the narrow bend of the highroad 
 (called Regresso from the fact that the engine of the 
 steam tramway has here to take the other end of the train), 
 is quite different. The central terrace has a huge polyg- 
 onal supporting wall 40 feet long and 20 high at the 
 N. end, while at the S. it is supported by a wall of concrete 
 faced with opus reticulatum, with buttresses connected 
 by arches (Fig. 10); while the lower terrace is of opus 
 incertum with buttresses and arches. 
 
 Now, all the earlier writers naturally call this the villa 
 of Brutus; and it only began to be called the villa of 
 Cassius in the documents relating to the excavations of 
 1773, continued in the following years by order of Pope 
 Pius VI. But in any case, it seems clear that the hermae 
 were found in the southern villa—and with them statues 
 of Apollo and eight of the Muses, and various other statues, 
 most of which are in the Vatican, though a group of a 
 faun and a nymph found its way through the hands of 
 Thomas Jenkins into Charles Townley’s collection and so 
 into the British Museum. 
 
 The road goes on for some three miles through the 
 olives, passing another villa where other polygonal walls 
 attracted Dodwell’s attention, until it reaches the farm- 
 house of Gericomio.! This was built in 1579 by Cardinal 
 Prospero Santacroce as a refuge for his old age; and the 
 quiet peace of this remote corner of the world certainly 
 commends it as an appropriate haven of rest. There is 
 ‘perhaps no place like the Roman Campagna for losing 
 sight of modern life for a while, and acquiring that mental 
 repose which is so great a relief now that Rome, alas! 
 has become one of the noisiest cities of Europe. 
 
 1 Gericomio is an Italianised form of I’epokoyeiov, which appears as 
 Iepovtoxopeioy in the code of Justinian. 
 
 121 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 On the hill above Gericomio—the Monte S. Angelo in 
 Arcese—is the site, in all probability, of the Arz Aesulana, 
 where, Livy tells us, a garrison was placed when Hannibal 
 threatened Rome in 210 B.c. In this account it is coupled 
 with the Alban Mount: and Horace mentions it and 
 Tibur and Tusculum as prominent points in the view of 
 the hills from Rome. In Pliny’s day it had perished 
 without leaving a trace: but twenty-five years after his 
 death in the eruption of a.p. 79 a contractor who had 
 successfully bored a tunnel under the mountain for the 
 Aqua Claudia restored the ruined temple of the Bona 
 Dea on its summit. | 
 
 A road ascending the mountain, and remains of (possibly) 
 pre-Roman platforms and of Roman reservoirs, may be 
 Seen near the top, and while the ruins on the summit 
 belong to a church of S. Angelo with a monastery men- 
 tioned in the first half of the ninth century, there are 
 blocks of tufa, columns, and other fragments of marble, 
 with brick-stamps of the time of Hadrian, which probably 
 belong to the temple. 
 
 An extremely interesting letter of the humanist Flavio 
 Biondo has recently come to light, describing an expedi- 
 tion which Pope Pius II made to the summit of the 
 mountain in September 1461.1 
 
 1 Boll. di Tivoli, i. (1919) 128. 
 
 122 
 
IT 
 
 THE ROADS LEADING TO 
 THE ALBAN HILLS 
 AND THE SOUTH-EAST 
 
 Vil. 
 
 THE VIA PRAENESTINA 
 THE VIA COLLATINA 
 THE VIA LABICANA 
 THE VIA LATINA 
 
 THE VIA APPIA (WITH THE 
 VIA ANTIATINA) 
 
ma 
 
 PRELIMINARY NOTE 
 
 Rome into South Italy, as will be clear to anyone 
 
 who sees them from the S.E. side of the city. 
 They occupy the space between the sea and the Apen- 
 nines with their outliers, all of which are of limestone, and 
 therefore were above the level of the sea of the pre-volcanic 
 period, which washed their lower slopes before the various 
 phases of submarine volcanic activity ended in the eleva- 
 tion of the coast plain and the formation of numerous 
 sub-aerial craters. 
 
 The original Alban volcano was some 12 miles in diameter 
 at the base, while the crater was about half as much 
 across; and the late Sir Archibald Geikie, in his book 
 on Landscape in History, has explained how, in his view, 
 the later cone was built up in the middle of the larger 
 crater, itself enclosing a well-marked crater with the Campo 
 di Annibale at the bottom. This central crater then became 
 choked, and the volcanic forces, not yet at rest, had to 
 find other outlets; the original crater rim, which is pre- 
 served from Tusculum to Nemi, was blown away on the 
 W., and the craters of Albano and Nemi were the result : 
 and still later on smaller craters were produced. Such 
 portents as Livy records, when it. rained stones in the 
 Alban Hills, are due to these sporadic manifestations of 
 voleanic activity: while the rain of blood, which he also 
 records, is due to an entirely different cause—the charging 
 of the atmosphere with red sand from the Sahara when a 
 violent sirocco is blowing, and its precipitation by rain 
 in the form of red mud—a phenomenon which I have 
 myself seen. 
 
 Te ALBAN HILLS are the key to any advance from 
 
 125 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 So far as we know, the earliest appearance of man in 
 the Alban Hills dates from the Iron Age, as indeed in 
 Rome itself: and it may have been the continuance of 
 volcanic activity which rendered them not comfortable 
 for habitation at any earlier period. According to tradi- 
 tion, Alba Longa was founded some three hundred years 
 before Rome by Ascanius or Iulus, the son of Aeneas ; 
 but we do not find this interval between the earliest tombs 
 of the Alban Hills and those of the recently discovered 
 cemetery in the Forum, and it is therefore doubtful whether 
 we can accept this tradition—any more than we can 
 accept as historical the records of the wars between the 
 two cities. We only know that there was a Confederacy 
 of thirty communities, of which Alba was the head (though 
 the list as handed down to us has some curious omissions), 
 which met for sacrifices at the temple of Jupiter Latiaris, 
 and that, on the fall of Alba Longa, Rome succeeded to the 
 honorary presidency of it. 
 
 The routes by which the Alban Hills were approached 
 from Rome in early days were probably (1) the road to 
 Tusculum, followed for some distance by the later Via 
 Labicana, leading to the northern slopes and the rim of 
 the outer crater, (2) the road to Castrimoenium (Marino), 
 leading to the central portion of the group, (8) the road 
 to Satricum, leading to the S. slopes. Besides these, 
 it is possible—though not certain—that there was an 
 earlier road running more or less in the same direction 
 as the later Via Appia, to the W. side of the Alban 
 Lake: and this is one of the points that one might hope 
 to test by aerial photography. For both the Via Latina 
 and the Via Appia, which run in an absolutely straight 
 line for miles, are not natural nor primitive roads, but 
 artificial military highways of a comparatively late date. 
 
 The Via Latina was. probably the earlier, though its 
 date is not recorded; for it led to the pass of Algidus, 
 upon which determined attacks were made by the Aequi 
 and Volsci in joint operations from 465 to 389 B.c. (to 
 adopt the traditional dating), and was probably constructed 
 at least thus far not very long after the latter year—while 
 126 
 
 : 
 
 | 
 | 
 
PRELIMINARY NOTE 
 
 the foundation of Cales, near Capua, as a colony in 384 B.c. 
 would tend to make us believe that the road had been 
 pushed forward to that point at least as early as that date. 
 The Via Appia, we know, was constructed some twenty 
 years later, while we are without information as to the 
 construction of the Via Labicana and the Via Praenestina, 
 the former of which served the N. slopes of the Alban 
 Hills, as well as the undulating country between them and 
 the limestone mountains on a projecting spur of which 
 Praeneste stood, guarding one of the routes to the S.E. ; for 
 the Via Labicana, on its way to join the Via Latina, passes 
 within a few miles of the town. The district between 
 Praeneste and Tibur is furrowed by deep ravines ; but, the 
 level of the hills between them being generally the same, 
 they very often do not appear until one is close upon them. 
 They presented great difficulties to the passage of the 
 aqueducts by which the city of Rome was supplied, and 
 ‘some of the finest remains of these are to be found there. 
 
 On the N. and W. sides of the Alban Hills the country 
 is much easier, and the undulations are comparatively 
 gentle. The lower slopes are covered with the remains 
 of ancient villas; these are most plentiful in the lower 
 part of the territory of Tusculum, and in that of Castri- 
 moenium, in the neighbourhood of the modern Frascati, 
 Castel Gandolfo, and Marino, and even nearer to Rome: 
 though there are also many below Albano. As we approach 
 the coast plain they become rarer, as we shall see in the 
 sequel. 
 
 127 
 
IV 
 
 THE VIA PRAENESTINA 
 
 began from the Porta Esquilina of the Servian wall, 
 
 and from it the distances along them are calculated : 
 but they did not bifurcate until about three-quarters of 
 a mile further on, at the tomb of Eurysaces the baker, 
 which stood in the fork. This monument belongs to the 
 last century of the Republic: and in a.p. 52 Claudius 
 built the splendid double arch (now called the Porta 
 Maggiore) which carried the channels of the Aqua Claudia 
 and the Anio Novus over the two roads just before they 
 separated—so close to the tomb that when Honorius 
 enlarged the Porta Praenestina (for Aurelian had incor- 
 porated the arch into the line of his walls as a city gate) 
 
 Te VIA PRAENESTINA and the Via Labicana both 
 
 he was able to use the tomb as the foundation of a tower, — 
 
 which was only removed in 1838. 
 
 As it was the highest point on the E. side of the city, 
 it was selected by the engineers of the aqueducts from 
 the upper valley of the Anio and from the Alban Hills as 
 the point at which the channels should enter the city, so 
 that as little pressure as possible was lost. It was thus 
 the meeting-point of eight or nine aqueducts and as many 
 roads, and therefore, as Lanciani has pointed out, one 
 of the most important topographical centres of the 
 ancient city. 
 
 But neither of the two roads with which we have to deal 
 ever acquired first-class importance. 
 
 As its original name, Via Gabina, implies, the left-hand 
 road, later the Via Praenestina, once only led as far as 
 Gabii; while the Via Labicana, I think, was the earliest 
 route from Rome to Tusculum, and was later prolonged 
 128 
 
THE VIA PRAENESTINA 
 
 to Labici, but never became a road of first-class importance. 
 It may, however, have superseded the Via Latina as a 
 route for long-distance traffic, as the distance to their 
 junction on the further side of the Alban Hills is practically 
 the same along either, whereas its summit level is con- 
 siderably (650 feet) lower than that of the Via Latina at 
 the pass of Algidus. As regards the Via Appia, the journey 
 by the Via Labicana is only 6 miles longer to their point 
 of junction just before Casilinum, on the nearer bank of 
 the Volturnus, or 3 miles shorter, if we take a more direct 
 route by Teanum instead of going round by Venafrum : 
 while the troublesome journey by boat through the Pomp- 
 tine Marshes, so vividly described by Horace, would have 
 been avoided. But we are not told that the Via Labicana 
 was much in use during the period preceding the improve- 
 ments which Trajan made on the Via Appia; and these 
 must certainly have led to a definite preference being 
 given to the latter. 
 
 The growth of Rome has led to the obliteration of 
 all traces of antiquity on the first portion of both roads. 
 _ Taking the Via Praenestina first, we may note the exist- 
 ence, about a mile from the gate on the left, of the largest 
 _ tomb in the suburbs of Rome, a huge, low drum of con- 
 crete about 150 feet in diameter (not reckoning the stone 
 facing, which has disappeared), with a surprisingly small 
 chamber (only 14 by 16 feet) in the centre reached by a 
 long passage from the N., on the side—that is, away from 
 the road. 
 
 It belonged until lately to the Dominican Order; and 
 a Frenchman placed a tablet here in 1716 (“‘ Bastile je 
 m’apelle F(rér)e Dominique Brulon | M’a posté sur ce 
 tourion pour faire santinelle”’), while in 1741 the Irish 
 Dominicans put up another to commemorate Prince 
 Charlie’s visit on September 2nd. 
 
 A mile further on we cross a stream, and then the so- 
 called military road, built to connect the circle of forts 
 constructed round Rome in 1883. On the right is a well- 
 preserved tomb in ornamental brickwork of the second 
 century A.D., which, as Rivoira pointed out, provides us 
 
 I 129 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 with the earliest example known of small arches supported 
 on brackets and themselves carrying a cornice. Another, 
 close by, has a niche with an elegant scallop-shell pattern 
 in stucco. Ascending the hill, we find extensive remains 
 of ancient villas on both sides of the road. On the right 
 there are scanty remains of various periods from the 
 beginning of the Empire to the fourth century a.p., when 
 various smaller buildings were united into one group, 
 which was not a residence de luwe, but probably a farm- 
 house. The only ruin of any importance which is now 
 preserved is a large reservoir in two stories, each of them 
 containing six chambers, measuring 28 by 17 feet each ; 
 but the lower chambers were not lined with hydraulic 
 cement, and only served to support the upper. The 
 exterior is 71 feet square, but as it stands on uneven 
 ground it has been heavily buttressed at the lower end. 
 
 On the left, the first remains we find belong to a villa 
 of the Republican period, with an extensive system of 
 passages lined with cement for drawing the surface water, 
 but they have been much damaged by modern quarrying. 
 We then come to a large reservoir with buttresses, of the 
 middle of the second century : and then to the remains of 
 a large octagonal hall, upon which in the Middle Ages a 
 lofty tower was planted, giving it a most fantastic appear- 
 ance. The octagon above the niches with which it was 
 decorated (in one of them Pirro Ligorio saw and drew 
 nearly four hundred years ago some decorations in stucco 
 which are still fairly well preserved) gave place to a cir- 
 cular dome: and the use of empty jars in the vaulting 
 to lighten the weight shows that we are in the middle of 
 the third century (Fig. 11). Not far off is an apse with 
 a semi-dome also stuccoed, with the vault in the form of 
 a scallop-shell, which is probably a century earlier. 
 
 Piranesi, who gives plates of both these buildings in 
 his Antichita Romana, believed them to be tombs: but 
 the first is probably a nymphaeum, while the second may 
 have formed part of a set of baths. 
 
 But the most important monument of all is . that which 
 gives its modern name to the site, the Tor de’ Schiavi. 
 130 
 
12, TEMPLE AT GABII (p. 134). 
 
 II. REMAINS OF VILLA OF THE GORDIANI (p. 130). 
 
 To face p, 130, 
 
r] 
 
 ~ 
 
THE VIA PRAENESTINA 
 
 This dates only from 1571, when one Vincenzo Rossi dello 
 Schiavo was proprietor of the farm, which previously to 
 that was known as the M onumentum, from this ruin or 
 from the lofty tower described above. It is a large 
 circular temple tomb, like the Heroon of Romulus, son of 
 Maxentius, on the Via Appia, and belongs, as the brick- 
 _ Stamps showed (they have unfortunately all been covered 
 up or removed in the course of recent repairs to the struc- 
 ture), to the time of Diocletian. The exterior was decorated 
 in stucco in imitation of marble blocks, as were his great 
 baths. In front was a portico with columns, approached 
 by a flight of steps. The lower story, which is underground, 
 has a large pillar in the centre, which carries the circular 
 vault. The lighting was by lunette windows in the attic 
 just below the dome. Here all topographers have placed 
 the villa of the Gordiani, and though their biographer 
 only tells us that it was on this road, and that it had two 
 hundred columns in a square peristyle, three basilicas with 
 a hundred columns each, and most magnificent thermae, 
 we must also place it here, for we shall find no other remains 
 of sufficient magnificence. Also we must remember that, 
 while they reigned in 288, they were descended from the 
 Gracchi on the father’s side, and from Trajan on the 
 mother’s, and that their ancestors had frequently held 
 the consulship. It is therefore not surprising, as it would 
 seem, that only the octagonal hall belongs to the actual 
 period of their reign, and that the rest of the buildings are 
 either earlier or later. It is unlikely that the villa origin- 
 ally extended across the road, for the belt of tombs on 
 each side would have been a great inconvenience : though 
 when under Constantine the Imperial domain included the 
 villa known as ad duas lauros on the Via Labicana, it is 
 most likely that it formed an uninterrupted belt of terri- 
 tory as far as Tor de’ Schiavi. In any case, the latter 
 villa must have occupied the whole hill-top as far as the 
 next stream. 
 
 In the valley, just at the fourth kilometre, the modern 
 Via Collatina diverges to the left. Tombs continue to 
 be visible on each side of the Via Praenestina, which keeps 
 
 131 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 on a fairly straight course, despite the undulations of the 
 ground. After a couple of miles we reach the Torre di 
 Tre Teste, a mediaeval tower and farmhouse on the N. 
 edge of the road, which takes its name from a much-damaged 
 relief from a tomb, with three heads representing those who 
 were buried in it, which is built into the chapel. 
 
 A mile further on again, on the left, are some ruins of a 
 villa (called Muraccio dell’ Uomo Morto, from a late burial 
 found there) and of its subterranean water cisterns: the 
 springs which supplied it are by some identified with those 
 of the Aqua Appia, but this is very doubtful. 
 
 A mile further on again we see the picturesque Tor 
 Angela on the right, and near it some brick arches of 
 the Aqua Alexandrina. This ran between the Via Prae- 
 nestina and the Via Labicana, and an ancient road existed 
 for its service, the pavement of which I saw twenty years 
 ago; but it has now been used to make up the bed of a 
 modern farm road. Ruins of various buildings are to be 
 seen on each side of the road, and much has been brought 
 to light, and simultaneously destroyed, by the spread of 
 cultivation. 
 
 Just beyond the twelfth kilometre-stone we reach the 
 eighth milestone of Innocent XIII (1721-1724), which 
 corresponds more or less with the ninth ancient mile : 
 and hence it is that the fine bridge (Fig. 13) over 
 the little stream here is called Pons de Nona—a name 
 which can be traced as far back as a.pD. 958. There was 
 originally a small single-arched bridge incorporated in 
 the far loftier structure which was later on substituted for 
 it, to avoid the steep descent and ascent. Its total length 
 is about 236 feet by 33 feet wide at the top (the paved 
 roadway now removed measured 20 feet in width) and the 
 greatest height 52. There are seven arches of hewn 
 Gabine stone, but the bridge-heads are of red tufa quarried 
 on the spot. It is by far the finest road bridge in the 
 neighbourhood of Rome. 
 
 On the hill just beyond the bridge, ploughing brought 
 to light some twenty-five years ago a large deposit of votive 
 objects in terra-cotta, representing almost all parts of the 
 132 
 
13. PONTE DI NONA (p. 132). 
 
 I4. OSA STREAM AND ALBAN HILLS (p. 133). 
 
 TOwMaces pe 132: 
 
THE VIA PRAENESTINA 
 
 human body (though not of the internal organs), mostly 
 life-size, with some small figures of cows and horses, which 
 betokened the presence of some temple. Excavations 
 were carried on ten years later, and brought to light a 
 number of Republican coins. These show that the sanc- 
 tuary existed from about 300 B.c. to the birth of Christ. 
 Of the temple itself no remains came to light; but a 
 rectangular enclosure walled in hewn stone was found, 
 and just outside it were two cavities in the rock, full 
 of votive objects. On the other hand, a small bath was 
 found which may have served for the use of wayfarers. 
 How it got its water is uncertain: there is a cave with a 
 small magnesiac spring below, which may have served 
 to supply it, and may also have been the original cause of 
 the establishment of the sanctuary here. Beyond it is a 
 large group of tombs in opus quadratum, which lay on 
 each side of the ancient road, the course of which was 
 slightly to the N. of the modern, so that they are all on 
 the left of the latter. They extended for a couple of 
 miles with occasional interruptions, and behind them were 
 other buildings at large intervals; but the spread of 
 cultivation will soon leave but scanty traces of them, for 
 on the S., where there is more pasture-land, the remains 
 are scantier. A branch road ran off at about the tenth 
 ancient mile to the Via Collatina; and at the eleventh 
 we reach the Osteria dell’ Osa, an important meeting- 
 point of roads. The ancient Via Praenestina went on in 
 an easterly direction, whereas the modern road, which also 
 follows an ancient line, turns N.E. to Le Capannelle. 
 Then there are two roads from Lunghezza, one on each 
 bank of the Osa stream, diverging to the left, and two 
 roads going to the Via Labicana diverging to the right, 
 one leaving it a little beyond the eighth mile, and another 
 a little after the tenth, the latter forming part of an im- 
 portant cross-road from the Via Appia to the various 
 roads to the N.E. of it (the Via Cavona.) 
 
 The Via Praenestina crossed the Osa stream (Fig. 14) 
 a little to the S. of the modern bridge, and its pavement 
 
 may soon be seen in the track which keeps to the S. of 
 133 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 the long extinct crater, on the S. and E. edges of which 
 are the remains of the once famous city of Gabii. There 
 was a lake here in the Middle Ages, but it is mentioned 
 by no classical author ; and we are told that in the excava- 
 tion of a new outlet channel in 1838 (by which it is still 
 drained) traces of the ancient one were discovered. It is 
 indeed improbable that it would have been allowed to 
 exist by the Romans, for it would easily have become 
 swampy. ‘The road soon passes below the famous temple 
 (Fig. 12), a structure of about 200 B.c. _It is constructed 
 of blocks 2 feet in height and thickness, but varying in 
 length, of the local stone (which was extensively used in 
 Roman times, and is now called sperone), which were 
 originally coated with stucco, so as to give the appearance 
 of white marble: but they are now of a beautiful brown 
 colour. The cella is well preserved to a height of about 
 28 fect above the podium; it is 44 feet long and 28 feet 
 wide inside, and had six columns in front and at the sides 
 (reckoning the corner columns twice over), but none at 
 the back. It stands on the S. edge of the lake, and may 
 be distinguished from the Alban Hills by those who 
 know where to look; though an even more prominent 
 object is the lofty mediaeval Torre di Castiglione on 
 the E. bank, which probably marks the site of the 
 acropolis. 
 
 To what divinity the temple was dedicated is uncer- 
 tain: Vergil speaks of the arva Gabinae Junonis, and it 
 has generally been attributed to Juno, though others 
 prefer to call it the temple of Apollo, which, Livy tells 
 us, was struck by lightning in 176 B.c. Speculation on 
 this point has, however, only been open since the site of 
 Gabii was definitely settled, when excavations were made 
 around the temple in 1792 under the direction of Gavin 
 Hamilton, and it was found to have been surrounded on 
 three sides by Doric colonnades. The Forum was also 
 brought to light, but no traces of it remain visible, and 
 indeed it had been already filled up when Maria Graham 
 (better known as Lady Callcott, the authoress of Little 
 Arthur’s History of England) passed that way in 1819 with 
 134 
 
15. VIA PRAENESTINA (p. 136), 
 
 16. HUTS AT GABII (p. 135). 
 
 To face p. 135, 
 
THE VIA PRAENESTINA 
 
 Charles Eastlake and his wife, on her way to spend the 
 summer with them at Poli. 
 
 A large number of inscriptions and statues were found, 
 and the former are of especial interest, showing definitely 
 that this was the site of Gabii: for before this, though 
 it was clearly enough indicated both by the itineraries 
 and by our ancient authorities as situated about 12} miles 
 from Rome and 11 from Praeneste, it had been not infre- 
 quently misplaced. Flavio Biondo put it at Gallicano, 
 and so did several sixteenth-century writers; while 
 others, and notably Pirro Ligorio, preferred Zagarolo. 
 Fabretti, the explorer of the aqueducts, had, as usual, 
 seen the truth. The town owed much of its then pros- 
 perity to Hadrian, in whose honour the Curia, or council 
 chamber, received the name of Aelia Augusta; though 
 from the time of Augustus, or at any rate Tiberius, to 
 that of Elagabalus, the inscriptions give us definite 
 evidence that it was a municipality, and the Forum was 
 adorned with portrait statues of numerous members of 
 the Imperial House, and other works of art as well. 
 
 The language of the inscriptions is, of course, that of 
 flattery: and in estimating the real importance and 
 prosperity of this roadside village we should strike a mean 
 between it and the equally excessive stress which Cicero 
 and the poets lay upon its desolation—Horace speaks 
 of a God-forsaken village as Gabiis desertior atque Fidenis 
 vicus; and Juvenal, as his manner is, finds it useful to 
 point a moral, in two passages imitating Horace, in asso- 
 ciating it with Fidenae, while in the third he speaks of 
 ‘‘ simple Gabii.”” But all this part of the site of the later 
 town very likely did not fall within the compass of the 
 ancient city at all. The Gabii which is so prominent in 
 the earliest history of Rome lay on the E. bank of the 
 lake, where the crater rim is a good deal higher, and was 
 protected by cliffs, the defensive properties of which were 
 increased by scarping and quarrying (Fig. 16). The huts 
 which may be seen at the foot of them, which are inhabited 
 by peasant labourers from the hills, may give an image 
 of those in which the primitive population must have 
 
 185 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 dwelt. A remarkable rock-cut causeway leads right 
 through the ancient city, of which no traces are to be 
 seen—for the piece of wall near the tower is probably 
 mediaeval, and other certain traces of fortification are 
 scanty—while at the tower itself there is nothing but 
 the tombstone of a certain Sextus Cloulius who lived here 
 to the ripe old age of ninety-five. 7 
 
 We may now return to the Via Praenestina; on the 
 left we find the scanty remains of the church of S. Primi- 
 tivus, the apse of which belonged to an earlier building, 
 while on the right a branch road, the pavement of which 
 can still be seen, runs off southward to the springs of 
 the Aqua Alexandrina. Shortly after another road, 
 also ancient, marked in the maps of the seventeenth 
 century, runs off to Passerano. A little further on, to the 
 right, I saw lying loose in a field a round drum of traver- 
 tine, which proved to bear an inscription showing it to 
 be the thirteenth milestone of the road: and it would 
 seem to be mentioned as a landmark in documents of 
 the eleventh and twelfth centuries in the archives of the 
 church of S. Prassede, which owned considerable property 
 hereabouts. Here we may see the scanty remains of an 
 aqueduct—which has, however, a certain interest, as it 
 must be the very one which, as an inscription records, 
 Hadrian constructed for the benefit of Gabi. The pave- 
 ment of the road, which is only used as a bridle-path, 
 is in fine preservation, and its width is 13 or 14 feet. A 
 branch road soon diverged due southward to the Via 
 Labicana; and after another mile we come to a fairly 
 well-preserved ancient single-arched bridge, the so-called 
 Ponte di Terra. The pavement continues for the next 
 2 or 8 miles (Fig. 15) almost as far as the point where 
 the road comes into use once more; and several ancient 
 branch roads go off from it, though none of them can be 
 followed very far. 
 
 Remains of the aqueducts now begin to come in sight 
 to the S.—two great bridges of the Aqua Claudia and 
 Anio Novus, so close together that they might easily be 
 taken for one, much restored in later concrete and over- 
 136 
 
17. CORCOLLE (p. 137). 
 
 18. PASSERANO (p. 137). 
 
 To face p 137. 
 
THE VIA PRAENESTINA 
 
 grown with bushes; and a little before the eighteenth 
 ancient mile, at the Osteria di Cavamonte, we reach the 
 modern road from Tivoli by Ponte Lucano to Zagarolo 
 and the Via Labicana, which at the Osteria delle Capannelle, 
 some way to the N., is joined by the modern road to Poli. 
 We have now come to a district of long, narrow, flat- 
 topped ridges, separated by deep ravines, which—as the 
 level of the hill-top is more or less uniform—are hardly 
 suspected until one is close upon them. The picturesque 
 sites of Corcolle (Fig. 17) and Passerano (Fig. 18), which 
 lie between us and the Osteria delle Capannelle, may both 
 occupy those of ancient villages, and have often been 
 identified with Querquetula and Scaptia respectively, 
 though the evidence is in neither case sufficient. Pas- 
 serano, at least, if not Corcolle, became the site of a Roman 
 villa, and both were used for mediaeval castles. As to 
 Pedum, which seems to have been of rather more impor- 
 tance—for, though it is mentioned, like the other two, 
 among Pliny’s catalogue of the lost cities of Latium, yet 
 the name clung to the district; and both Caesar and 
 Tibullus had villas in regione Pedana, as we learn from 
 Cicero and from Horace respectively—it may have been 
 at Zagarolo, a couple of miles to the S., or it may have 
 been at Gallicano. 
 
 Our road, on the other hand, traverses a deep 
 cutting in the rock (the Cavamonte) through a narrow 
 ridge; and on each side of it we may see the inspection 
 shafts, now blocked up, by which it was possible to descend 
 to the aqueduct channels below. These emerge after 
 the cutting, and the bridge which carried them across 
 the next stream is used for the modern road, which goes 
 on to Gallicano and thence to Poli,! whereas the ancient 
 
 1 By it we reach, as the ravines become deeper and wider, and 
 present even more formidable obstacles to their passage, the finest 
 remains of the great aqueducts ; but to deal with them adequately 
 would require a volume. Suffice it to say that I hope shortly to 
 publish a comprehensive work on them, and that in the meantime 
 details may be found in the sources cited in the Bibliography. A 
 specimen view of one of the most picturesque bridges—the Ponte 
 S. Antonio (Fig. 19), which lies not far from Gericomio, may be 
 
 given here. 
 137 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 bridge of the Via Praenestina, the so-called Ponte Amato, 
 is only used for foot traffic. It is a remarkably perfect 
 specimen of a Roman road bridge (Fig. 20), and is built 
 of massive blocks of volcanic stone; the roadway is 
 19 feet in width, the parapets on each side being 2 feet 
 wide. The road then ascends to the summit of a long 
 ridge, passing close under the large modern villa of S. 
 Pastore, the summer quarters of the German College in 
 Rome, and follows it, ascending gradually, until it fades 
 into the low ground below Palestrina, the ancient Prae- 
 _neste. It then runs absolutely straight for over 4 miles, 
 and, being followed by the modern road, there is little of 
 interest to record except some remains of pavement at 
 intervals and two or three prominent tombs. The hills 
 further away from the road on each side are now entirely 
 covered with vineyards; but in ancient times, notwith- 
 standing the difficulties of communication caused by the 
 deep ravines, there was a fair sprinkling of ancient build- 
 ings—both of the villas of the wealthy and of the dwellings 
 of the cultivators. As we approach Palestrina, we may 
 notice several fine villas; one just before reaching the 
 Ponte Sardone (an ancient road embankment much 
 repaired), on the left, with a cryptoporticus, the decora- 
 tions of which (paintings on a white ground, with decora- 
 tive borders surrounding panels) are still well preserved ; 
 while a good deal higher up, near the church of 5. Fran- 
 cesco, are two open reservoirs, one a very large one known 
 as La Pescara. 
 
 To the S., at the cemetery, which lies on the top of 
 its platform, is a very large villa, which is by many 
 attributed to Hadrian, to whose time it belongs, and in 
 which Gavin Hamilton found the so-called Braschi Anti- 
 nous, a colossal statue representing him as Dionysus: 
 it is now in the Rotunda of the Vatican Museum. Imme- 
 diately to the E., on the Cave road, there is another, the 
 attribution of which is uncertain. Certainly the district 
 was in considerable favour as a summer resort: Augustus 
 had a villa here (whether it was in it or elsewhere that 
 Horace read Homer, we do not know), and Tiberius 
 138 , 
 
19. PONTE S, ANTONIO (p. 137). 
 
 20, PONTE AMATO (p. 138). 
 
 To face p. 138. 
 
a wee 4 
 
 oi 
 re 
 
 f 
 
21. CASTEL S. PIETRO (p. 139). 
 
 22. QUARRIES, CERVARA (p. 143) 
 
 To face’ p, 139. 
 
THE VIA PRAENESTINA 
 
 recovered from an illness here; the Younger Pliny had 
 a villa here, and so had Marcus Aurelius. 
 
 But this is not the chief title of Praeneste to fame. 
 In early times it was chiefly celebrated as a stronghold ; 
 and from its citadel, now Castel San Pietro (Fig. 21) on 
 a limestone rock high above the modern town, defended 
 by massive Cyclopean walls of large limestone blocks, 
 two long walls descended and enclosed a roughly triangular 
 space between them. The wealth of the rulers of this 
 city is shown by the magnificence of the tombs of the 
 seventh century B.c. which have been found in the lower 
 ground below the town. Such tombs as the Barberini 
 and the Bernardini, the contents of which are to be seen 
 in the museums of the Villa di Papa Giulio and the Collegio 
 Romano in Rome, show that these princes acquired their 
 artistic treasures, with their strong Oriental characteristics 
 (some are actually of Eastern origin and some of local 
 workmanship), if not from Etruria itself, at any rate 
 from the same sources as those which supplied the lords 
 of Caere in Southern Etruria; while the bronze toilet 
 chests, the so-called cistae, of the fourth and third cen- 
 turies B.c., reveal an important renaissance of art in the 
 beauty of their engravings. 
 
 Its commanding position close to the route to the 
 S. through the valley of the Sacco gave it great impor- 
 tance, and it was one of the very few cities of the old Latin 
 Confederacy which still survived in a flourishing condition 
 until the later Republic: and it had received the full 
 franchise in 90 B.c., when eight years later, after success- 
 fully standing a severe siege from Sulla, it surrendered 
 when the Younger Marius was finally defeated at the Porta 
 Collina. Then it was destroyed, and its territory con- 
 fiscated and divided among the soldiers of Sulla; and 
 the site of the old town was entirely given up to the huge 
 terraces of the temple of Fortuna, in which she was wor- 
 shipped as Primigenia, the first-born of Jupiter. Her 
 responses to those who consulted the oracle were given 
 by “lots * or slips of wood on which letters were carved. 
 Sulla restored the temple with greatly increased magni- 
 
 ‘139 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES — 
 
 ficence, the forum of the new colony occupying the lower 
 ground at the foot of the hill-side where the old necropolis 
 had been. Before his time there was no attempt at 
 symmetry in the planning of the town. He found it 
 enclosed by the two long walls descending from the citadel, — 
 and by a base wall on the S., which he destroyed, super- — 
 seding it with a terrace wall of his own; the western part — 
 of it is of massive blocks of squared stone (above this a — 
 very large water-tank was added in Imperial times, to © 
 correspond with the one already existing on the E., and 
 below it at the corner of the wall is another, faced with 
 brickwork and decorated with niches on the outside), 
 and the eastern part has arcades, which are now used 
 for stores, wheelwrights’ shops, etc., and give the name 
 to the road (Via degli Arcioni) which runs along the foot 
 of the town; while in the centre, between them, he made 
 a monumental entrance to the temple, which is not very 
 easy to discern among the later constructions by which 
 it has been filled up. The entrance was placed on the 
 axis of the cathedral, which occupies an ancient building 
 (perhaps the old Curia, or council chamber), upon the front 
 of which traces may still be seen of a sundial described 
 by Varro. It lay upon the W. side of the older forum of 
 the town, the site of which is partly occupied by the modern 
 Piazza Regina Margherita, the main square of the little 
 town: and on to it fronted the city treasury, a little 
 vaulted chamber belonging, as an inscription shows, to 
 a period before the time of Sulla. This lies directly 
 under a large rectangular hall with an apsidal termina- 
 tion, which fronted on to the forum, and is generally 
 regarded as the temple of Fortuna. The Corinthian 
 columns of its front, with their fine capitals, may be 
 seen in the modern houses, but the entrance seems to have 
 been from the side. The famous mosaic, with scenes upon 
 the Nile, which is now in the Palazzo Barberini (with many 
 other interesting objects of local antiquity), decorated 
 the apse ; but the interior (now dark, owing to the closing 
 of the windows on the S.) has some fine decoration still 
 preserved. To the W. is an area now open, but once 
 140 
 
THE VIA PRAENESTINA 
 
 probably roofed over, and resembling a basilica in plan, 
 which served as a means of communication between 
 the temple and a cave in the rock, which was probably 
 the grotto of the oracle. A beautiful coloured mosaic 
 pavement has been found there and left in position ; it 
 is not as complete as the other and represents various 
 fish swimming in the sea. Before the time of Sulla the 
 approaches to the temple were on the KE. and W., on a 
 level with the ancient forum and with the main portion 
 of the temple, by one gate in each of the long walls; 
 while the modern Porta del Sole, at the S.E. corner of 
 the town, which one enters from the electric railway 
 station, was probably only a postern. 
 
 In the upper part of the town the remains consist 
 mainly of terrace walls running right across it from KE. 
 to W.; and they have naturally had a large part in fixing 
 the position of the streets and houses of the picturesque 
 mediaeval town, which makes great use of them as it 
 climbs steeply up the hill-side. At the top there was a 
 large open space surrounded by a colonnade, with a 
 hemicycle, the steps of which still exist, leading up to 
 a circular temple, the back wall of which still exists, in a 
 corridor of the Palazzo Barberini. 
 
 The resemblance to the temple of Heracles at Tibur 
 must have been close: but here we are a good deal higher 
 up, and the view is finer and a good deal wilder: for 
 beyond the vineyard-clad plain, furrowed by deep ravines, 
 we see the E. side of the Alban Hills, and to the left the 
 limestone Volscian mountains, with Artena and Segni 
 lying high up, in positions of great natural strength, 
 rendered even more formidable by massive walls. Truly 
 it must have been an imposing sanctuary from many miles 
 away : and those who wish to form some idea of its magni- 
 ficence, and at the same time learn more of its history, 
 should glance at Mr. Bradshaw’s admirable restoration, 
 which gives us a fine conception of the appearance of this 
 great sanctuary extending over the whole hill-side. 
 
 From Praeneste there are two or three different roads 
 southward, which join the Via Labicana at different 
 
 141 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 points, which may be more fittingly dealt with in connexion 
 with it; while another must have run on eastward to a 
 point a little S. of Genazzano, where it was intersected by 
 a road from the upper Anio valley. This would take us 
 into interesting and fascinating country, but too far into 
 the mountains, away from the Roman Campagna in the 
 narrower sense. 
 
 142 
 
IVa 
 
 THE VIA COLLATINA 
 
 Collatina diverged from the Via Tiburtina to the 
 
 right just beyond the Arch of the Aqua Marcia, 
 which was converted into the Porta Tiburtina of the 
 Aurelian wall. It was a short and unimportant country 
 road, mainly used for the service of the aqueducts and 
 the quarries: but it must have been, as we have already 
 pointed out, one of the earliest elements in the Roman 
 road system ; and it was one of the primitive roads which 
 was never converted into a great highway. 
 
 The first part of the road was marked until a few years 
 ago by a lane called the Via Malabarba, a corruption of 
 Mola Barbara, which occurs in a document of the year 
 981; but it has now been completely obliterated by the 
 construction of a new goods-yard and engine-sheds; and 
 the line of the old road (though some scanty traces of it 
 may still be seen below) only comes into use again 4 miles 
 out of Rome, being reached by a short branch on the left 
 from the Via Praenestina, a little beyond the Tor de’ 
 Schiavi. It pursues a curiously sinuous course, continually 
 crossing and recrossing the Aqua Virgo, a remarkably 
 pure supply of water brought to Rome by Agrippa, the 
 channel of which is still in use and supplies the lower 
 part of the city of Rome with perhaps the best drinking 
 water in the world. 
 
 A mile or more to the N. of the road are the picturesque 
 quarries of Cervara (Fig. 22), most of which have not 
 been worked since Roman days: they are now overgrown 
 with bushes, and the dark red tufa shows up warm against 
 the green. Here, till Rome ceased to be a city small 
 
 143 
 
 I THE DAYS OF THE EMPIRE, at any rate, the Via 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 enough for such things, was celebrated from 1815 to 
 1874 the famous artists’ carnival, beloved especially by 
 German artists: but, like the Carnival itself, it has died 
 a natural death. To reach these quarries we may turn 
 off at the large farmhouse of Cervelletta, clustering round 
 a lofty mediaeval tower, near the fifth mile of the ancient 
 road, or the seventh kilometre of the modern, or at the 
 smaller farm of La Rustica, a mile to the E., which occu- 
 pies the site of a villa. Twenty years ago a fine black- 
 and-white mosaic pavement lay under the mud of the 
 farmyard, but all has now disappeared, except a system 
 of passages cut in the rock for the storage of water. 
 
 Three miles further on, in a low-lying valley, are the 
 copious springs of the Aqua Virgo, now entirely enclosed 
 to protect them from contamination. Frontinus, who 
 was in charge of the water supply in the time of Trajan, 
 and effected many much-needed improvements and reforms, 
 tells us that the springs were situated within the pro- 
 perty of Lucullus, so famous for his wealth and luxury 
 in the last century of the Republic, which in the time of 
 Trajan belonged to Ceionius Commodus, the adoptive 
 son of Hadrian and father of Lucius Verus, the colleague 
 of Marcus Aurelius. Through him it came to form part 
 of the Imperial domain. Somewhere in this district, too, 
 lay the springs of the Aqua Appia, constructed like the 
 Via Appia by the blind censor of 312 B.c., whose name it 
 bears, but they have never been identified. 
 
 Half a mile to the N., beyond the railway, is the casale 
 of Salone, which now contains what little is left of the 
 villa of Cardinal Agostino Trivulzio of Milan, who bought 
 the site from the chapter of S. Maria Maggiore in 1525; 
 but it returned to them after his death. It was decorated 
 with fountains, stuccoes, and frescoes, some of which 
 represented the adventures of Phaethon and were the 
 work of Giammaria da Milano and Daniele da Volterra: 
 but only faint traces of them now remain. 
 
 A mile further on the modern road turns sharply to 
 the left, but the old road kept straight on and is marked 
 by a cart-track: the cuttings made for it through the 
 144 
 
23. LUNGHEZZA (p. 145). 
 
 24. SETTE BASSI (p. 157). 
 
 To face p. 145. 
 
THE VIA COLLATINA 
 
 rock may still be seen, while a good deal of the pavement 
 was found and removed in 1858; it was only 9 feet wide, 
 which shows that the road was of minor importance. 
 It passes through a cutting in a hill, between the sites of 
 two Roman villas, and, after traversing some undulating 
 country, reaches the S. extremity of the plateau on which 
 the ancient Collatia once stood. Remains of buildings 
 there are none; but the site is an admirable one for an 
 ancient city, being protected on all sides by valleys (that 
 on the S.E. may be artificial), except on the N.W., where 
 a narrow neck of rock (now traversed by the railway 
 cutting) connects it with the rock on which the large 
 fortified farmhouse of Lunghezza now stands (Fig. 28), 
 which is well defended by the River Anio and was no 
 doubt the citadel. Here, then, was the site of Collatia, 
 where, as the legend tells us, Sextus Tarquinius found the 
 fair Lucretia spinning, surrounded by her maidens. 
 Cicero and Strabo tell us that in their time it had lost 
 all importance, the latter classing it with Antemnae, 
 Fidenae, and Labici as a place that had once been a 
 stronghold but was now a hamlet in private ownership. 
 No doubt the large villa which, as elsewhere, occupied the 
 fine site of the acropolis was destroyed when the Strozzi 
 of Florence built the large fortified farmhouse which now 
 occupies the site. 
 
 From Lunghezza an ancient road appears to have run 
 S. along each bank of the Osa stream; that on the E. 
 bank passed near the ruined castle known as Castellaccio, 
 where some authorities place Collatia, but, I think, wrongly. 
 No road, on the other hand, crossed the river in ancient 
 times: but one has quite recently been made to join the 
 Via Tiburtina. 
 
 K 145 
 
V 
 
 THE VIA LABICANA 
 
 we have already spoken, erected by Vespasian, 
 
 was found 200 yards outside Porta Maggiore in 
 1903. But the road presents no object of interest nowa- 
 days from the tomb of Eurysaces to Torre Pignattara. 
 This building, which stands close to the third mile of the 
 ancient road (the milestone, erected by Maxentius, was 
 found in 1687), acquired its name from the use of empty 
 earthenware jars in the vaulting in order to decrease the 
 weight. It was circular, with eight niches, and had a 
 domed roof; and it was the mausoleum of Helena, the 
 mother of Constantine, whose huge red porphyry sarco- 
 phagus was removed from here to the Lateran by Pope 
 Anastasius IV (in 1153-4), and only removed to the 
 Vatican by Pius VI, who placed it opposite to the sarco- 
 phagus of Constantia. Beneath the mausoleum are the 
 catacombs of SS. Peter and Marcellinus: while above- 
 ground was the cemetery of a cavalry corps which served 
 as the Imperial bodyguard: they were known as the 
 Equites Singulares. Many of them were recruited from 
 Germany, Pannonia, Dacia, etc., though also from other 
 provinces, and their barracks lay near the Lateran. The 
 tomb stood within an Imperial domain known as ad 
 duas lauros (no doubt from two fine bay-trees which grew 
 in it), and which must have extended by the time of Con- 
 stantine as far as the Via Praenestina. Valentinian II 
 was murdered here by two of his officers in 455, and from 
 
 Te FIRST MILESTONE of the Via Labicana,’ of which 
 
 1 Its official name to-day is Via Casilina, because the Via Latina 
 joined the Via Appia at Casilinum, the modern Capua, immediately 
 before the bridge over the Volturnus. 
 
 146 
 
THE VIA LABICANA 
 
 313 to 649 the Imperial villa was the site of the titular 
 church (under the name of Sub Augusta) of the see of 
 Labici. Some remains of the villa and the buildings 
 connected with it were to be seen on the right of the 
 road a little further on before the establishment of the 
 Centocelle flying-ground here; but now a certain amount 
 has been destroyed, and the rest is not easily accessible. 
 A number of statues were found here at the end of the 
 eighteenth century, the best known of which is the Eros 
 of Centocelle in the Vatican. The name of the locality 
 (a hundred chambers) is doubtless a popular exaggera- 
 tion which sprang up when the ruins were better pre- 
 served than they are now. Descending to the stream, 
 we find on the right a modern osteria, built into a curious 
 circular structure with domed roof and niches; on a 
 knoll behind it rises the lofty Torre di Centocelle, built 
 of chips of volcanic stone and white marble, the latter 
 testifying to the destruction of tombs (of which, indeed, 
 numerous discoveries have been recorded), which must have 
 been used for building material; and on the left we see 
 the finest stretch of the brick arches of the Aqua Alexan- 
 drina which is still in existence. Built by Alexander 
 Severus, it made use of the same springs which Sixtus V 
 afterwards brought to Rome by the Acqua Felice. Beyond 
 this the spread of cultivation has led to the enclosure of 
 much of what was previously pasture-land; and in any 
 case there is little to be seen until we notice, just to the 
 S. of the modern bridge over which the electric railway 
 passes, a small but finely preserved single-arched bridge 
 of the ancient road which served to carry the traffic 
 until its narrowness led to its abandonment only a few 
 years ago. A few hundred yards further is the large farm- 
 house of Torre Nuova, surrounded by a prominent grove 
 of pines, which forms an oasis in the desert. It belongs 
 to the Borghese family : and in an ancient villa within the 
 confines of the farm attached to it was found, in 1884, 
 the large mosaic of gladiators fighting with wild beasts 
 which adorns the large hall on the ground-floor of the 
 Villa Borghese. In this district was situated the territory 
 
 147 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 of the Pupinian tribe, one of the sixteen country tribes ; 
 here Hannibal encamped after leaving Gabii in his 
 advance on Rome in 211 B.c., and here, despite the 
 proverbial sterility of the district, Atilius Regulus and 
 Fabius Maximus had their farms. 
 
 From this point the ancient road pursues a course 
 entirely distinct from that of the modern, and, though 
 they are never very far apart, and, indeed, come within 
 35 yards of one another at one point, they separate again, 
 and do not rejoin until the mediaeval castle of Piombinara 
 is reached, about 31 miles from Rome. The modern 
 road, called the Via Casilina, which is now followed 
 almost as far as Zagarolo railway station by the electric 
 railway to Fiuggi (after which it follows the Palestrina 
 road), passes through a district which has until lately been 
 desolate and given up to pasture, though it is rapidly 
 coming under cultivation: but it was fairly thickly 
 populated in Roman times, and the road very likely 
 follows an ancient line. 
 
 The ancient road, on the other hand, though remains 
 of it are fairly abundant, requires careful tracing: and, 
 indeed, it was not really known until Rosa rediscovered 
 its line in 1856. It is not remarkable for its straightness : 
 the country is not very difficult, and the builders of the 
 road seem to have taken it as they found it, without 
 attempting to alter its line from the natural course. 
 
 I am, indeed, inclined to suppose that it was the original 
 route to Tusculum: for at the site of the ninth ancient 
 milestone (about 2 miles from Torre Nuova) there is 
 another ancient road continuing the previous line of the 
 Via Labicana in a south-easterly direction. Beyond this 
 it can be traced on the E. bank of the (now dried) volcanic 
 crater lake of Pantano Secco!1—the most probable of the 
 seven candidates for identification with the Lake Regillus, 
 where was fought the famous battle in which the great 
 Twin Brethren helped the Romans on to defeat the Tar- 
 quins and their ally, the Prince of Tusculum. Thence 
 it went on up, passing close to the Villa Borghese and the 
 
 1 This lies just S. of C. Marchese on the map. . 
 148 
 
THE VIA LABICANA 
 
 Villa Mondragone, to the amphitheatre of Tusculum. 
 This is the natural prolongation of the line we have so far 
 been following: and we have seen that such prolongations 
 have already occurred in the case of other roads. On any 
 other supposition, indeed, the sudden sharp turn which 
 the Via Labicana makes from S.E. to E. is very hard to 
 account for, as it might quite easily have been avoided 
 and distance thereby saved, inasmuch as the country 
 presents no natural difficulties. 
 
 For the next couple of miles the boundary of the terri- 
 tory of the Commune of Rome (the Agro Romano) coincides 
 with the road—a significant fact. In this stretch it 
 intersects the important cross-road from the Via Appia, 
 the so-called Via Cavona, of which we have spoken already, 
 and to which we shall return, and at the same time it 
 crosses the subterranean aqueduct channel of the Anio 
 Vetus ; the yellow or white calcareous deposit of this and 
 of the other aqueducts shows up strongly against the dark 
 brown volcanic soil of the district, and has made it possible 
 for us to trace the course of the aqueducts through the 
 whole of this region, which had not previously been 
 possible. There are, indeed, more considerable remains 
 than had previously been suspected, but they require a 
 good deal of finding. Thus, on the W. side of the extinct 
 crater of Prata Porci (which is one of the unsuccessful 
 claimants to be identified with the Lake Regillus) the 
 rock-cut channel of the Aqua Claudia is occupied by a 
 stream for a short distance: while the deep, narrow ravine 
 which traverses the middle of this crater contains the 
 two bridges of this aqueduct and of the Anio Novus, 
 running side by side, though, the arches having collapsed 
 in both cases, only the bridge-heads remain, and are not 
 at first sight easily recognisable. And if the existence of 
 these bridges were not enough to render it impossible that 
 it was a lake in historic times, we may note the discovery 
 of a magnificent villa of the first half of the second century 
 A.D., with lead pipes bearing the names of two men of 
 consular rank. 
 
 The Via Labicana kept outside the crater to the N., 
 
 149 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 and then ascended into ground which is now heavily 
 cultivated and mostly as vineyards: so that remains of 
 it, and of various ancient buildings (tombs, villas, etc.) 
 adjacent to it, have been discovered, but soon afterwards 
 destroyed. The road continues to ascend, and shortly 
 after the ancient thirteenth milestone we have the same 
 phenomenon as at the ninth, of one road going straight 
 on in a southerly direction, while the other turns E.: and 
 here, too, the explanation is that the straight road led 
 to Labici, another of the lost cities of Latium, which is 
 to be identified with the high-lying village of Monte 
 Compatri (though what were seventy years ago believed 
 to be parts of the walls of this ancient city have completely 
 disappeared); while the highroad continued eastward, 
 and crossed the railway just W. of the station which 
 this village shares with Colonna. On the S. of Colonna 
 lay the post-station of Ad Quintanas, which, small though 
 it was, had a municipal constitution, and, as we learn 
 from inscriptions, probably called itself the respublica 
 Labicanorum Quintanensium: it was, indeed, important 
 enough to send a bishop to the Council of a.p. 313, while 
 from 813 to 649 the title of the see was Sub Augusta. 
 From 649 till 1111 we hear of a bishop of Labici (the see 
 is doubtless the same), to whom Tusculum was subject 
 until that date. Then Tusculum was regarded as the 
 more important until its destruction in 1172, though the 
 residence of the bishop had been transferred to Rome 
 when Labici and Tusculum became baronial castles. 
 The site is marked by a very large tomb in the middle of 
 the vineyards: and architectural remains, which may 
 have decorated the forum of this roadside village, have 
 come to light. The name has to do with the distance 
 (15 miles) from Rome, like the village of the Decimienses 
 at the tenth mile of the Via Latina, and it was fixed at 
 the intersection of a number of branch roads, running 
 back towards Frascati, up to Labici, and northward to 
 join the modern road—in fact the Osteria della Colonna, 
 which lies on the latter, to the N.E. of the village of Colonna 
 (which does not appear in mediaeval records before 1093, 
 150 
 
THE VIA LABICANA 
 
 and contains no traces of antiquity) appears to have been 
 an important road centre also. 
 
 After this the main road continued on the level, more 
 or less, for another 3 miles through a district rather less 
 thickly inhabited in Roman times, which is now covered 
 with vineyards. 
 
 At the eighteenth ancient mile, at S. Cesareo, the 
 modern road comes up very close to it. The name has 
 been taken to betoken that here—as elsewhere where it 
 occurs in the Campagna—there was a villa of the Caesars : 
 and as a fact we know that Julius Caesar had a villa in 
 the territory of Labici, in which he made his will only 
 sixteen days before his death. Further, in the low ground 
 to the E. there are the remains of a large nymphaeum, 
 which may belong to a late reconstruction of this villa. 
 A number of classical works of art have been found here 
 and hereabouts, and a few are still preserved in the Villa 
 Rospigliosi on the hill; while it is not impossible that two 
 inscriptions dedicated by Romulus, son of Maxentius, to 
 his father and mother before Maxentius became Emperor, 
 were found here. 
 
 S. Cesareo was another important road centre, and 
 probably coincides with the post-station of Ad Statuas— 
 though whether it took its name from the statues that 
 decorated the interior of the Imperial villa is uncertain— 
 it is more likely that there was some group of statues 
 standing in the open. Roads diverge on the right to 
 Monte Compatri and the pass of Algidus on the Via Latina, 
 while the modern road, which, as we have seen, probably 
 represents an ancient line, must do so from this point 
 onwards as far as Palestrina, the pavement being pre- 
 served for long stretches (despite modern destruction) 
 along the present road from Zagarolo station to the former 
 town. 
 
 The Via Labicana now continues in a south-easterly 
 direction, the modern road keeping parallel to it, but at 
 a certain distance. Two ancient roads from Praeneste 
 come down to join it, one of which went on to the pass 
 of Algidus: and three more came from the present high- 
 
 151 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 road, which now takes the north side of the narrow valley 
 which is traversed by the modern railway, and on the 
 edge of which the villages of Labico (an erroneous identi- 
 fication) and Valmontone stand. All these go on to the 
 Via Latina; and the district, desolate and uninteresting 
 in itself, through which two main roads pass, appears 
 to have been surprisingly rich in means of communication, 
 considering how comparatively sparsely populated it 
 was in ancient times—for though traces of ancient habi- 
 tation are not lacking, the country was not attractive 
 enough for us to find many villas. The Via Labicana 
 is clearly marked enough, and the pavement preserved 
 for considerable stretches, but all modern authorities, 
 except the French Abbé Capmartin de Chaupy, wrongly’ 
 make it coincide with the present highroad; and it was 
 therefore interesting to be able to follow it step by step 
 on foot for 12 miles or so—which is the only way of study- 
 ing the Campagna in detail. 
 
 The Itineraries tell us of two junctions of the Via Labi- 
 cana with the Via Latina—one at Ad Pictas, 25 miles 
 from Rome, and another at Ad Bivium, 30 miles from 
 the city. The latter was close to the small catacombs of 
 S. Llario, which have been almost entirely rifled. Some 
 of the inscriptions are in the large Palazzo Doria at Val- 
 montone. ‘They lie in the side of the low hill a mile and a 
 half W. of the railway station of Segni, in the Sacco valley, 
 above which stands the mediaeval castle of Piombinara, 
 with a tower (now ruined) so lofty as to command a view 
 over all this low country, furrowed with ravines, and to 
 allow of signalling back to other castles in the hills and 
 forward to other towers down the Sacco valley. 
 
VI 
 
 THE VIA LATINA 
 
 Capena, the Via Latina took another 500 yards 
 
 to reach the gate called the Porta Latina, by which 
 it left the Aurelian wall. Numerous discoveries of tombs 
 -have been made both inside and outside the gate; and 
 they seem to have been second only to those of the Via 
 Appia in number, if not in importance, and to have extended 
 a considerable way outside the city. Juvenal speaks of 
 it, with the Flaminia, as a road along which illustrious 
 men were buried. But remains above-ground are com- 
 paratively few and need not detain us. 
 
 The Via Latina runs in an absolutely straight line for 
 the first 11 miles out of Rome, in a south-easterly direc- 
 tion, with a slight turn a little after the first mile. This 
 in itself would convey the impression that we have here 
 to do with a military highway, like the Via Appia—and 
 possibly one of slightly earlier origin; for the pass of 
 Algidus through which it led was of especial importance 
 in the wars against the Aequi in 465-389 B.c.; while, 
 inasmuch as a Latin colony was founded at Cales in 
 334 B.c., we must suppose that by then a road led that far. 
 And this road was not the Via Labicana, but the Via 
 Latina, which in the time of Augustus, as Strabo tells us, 
 was the principal road of the two, and was indeed grouped 
 by him with the Appia and the Valeria as one of the three 
 most famous of Roman roads. The administration of the 
 two was, as we have seen, placed under one curator ; 
 and this was natural, as the two eventually became alter- 
 native routes for the first 30 miles; and the Labicana 
 may easily have superseded the Latina at a later date. 
 
 -153 
 
 ‘ FTER DIVERGING HALF A MILE outside the Porta 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 The line of the road, marked until a few years ago by 
 a lane, is now being obliterated by modern buildings: and 
 we only get it again clearly after crossing the Via Appia 
 Nuova, which issues from the Porta S. Giovanni. At 
 the intersection a road to Castrimoenium diverged to the 
 right, the line of which is followed for some miles by the 
 railway to Albano, which has obliterated it almost com- 
 pletely. Following the Via Latina to the left, we find a 
 fine group of tombs, well known to visitors to Rome, 
 with the pavement of the road well preserved. Several 
 of them were lofty tombs in ornamental brickwork, in 
 two stories or even three, including the subterranean 
 chamber. The most prominent is on the right: the 
 upper part is entirely new, but the subterranean chamber, 
 with its fine decoration in white stucco on the barrel 
 vault, is still well preserved. It is called the tomb of the 
 Valerii—for no adequate reason that I can discover. It 
 probably belongs to the middle of the second century. 
 Almost opposite to it is the tomb of the Pancratii—not 
 the name of a family, but of the burial club which owned 
 the tomb: and here, too, the ceiling of the second subter- 
 ranean chamber has very fine decorations in painted 
 stucco. There is a huge sarcophagus in the centre; 
 while in the first chamber, which appears to be latev in 
 date, six were found. The superstructure has disappeared, 
 and we only have the pavement of the room on the ground- 
 floor level, with representations of sea-monsters. To the 
 left of this tomb are the remains of the basilica of 
 S. Stephen, which had been built into a large villa, now 
 covered up, but which was perhaps Imperial property in 
 the time of Alexander Severus. The church had been 
 founded by Pope Leo I, as an inscription records, at the 
 dying wish of Demetrias, perhaps the daughter of Anicius 
 Olybrius, who was consul in a.p. 395. The foundations, 
 for there is nothing more, are those of a very large basilica ; 
 the confession may be seen in the centre, with the apse 
 and the baptistery behind, and some remains of older 
 walls of the villa. With the two tombs and the road it 
 is Government property: but just beyond we emerge 
 154 
 
THE VIA LATINA 
 
 into a farm, where a modern quarry has come up almost 
 to the line of the Via Latina. There were some more 
 brick tombs on’ the left, but the first came down in the 
 earthquake of January 1915, while another is used as a 
 barn. Both of them formed objects of study for the 
 architects of the Renaissance. 
 
 On the left we see the lofty ruined aqueduct of the 
 Aqua Claudia and Anio Novus, and the lower conduit, 
 with thick cemented piers and narrow arches, of the Acqua 
 Felice, which has made use of, and almost entirely des- 
 troyed, the remains of the Aqua Marcia. The crossing 
 of the former over the latter is, however, well preserved 
 inside the Tor Fiscale, a lofty mediaeval tower. About 
 500 yards further on the aqueducts must have crossed 
 again; and in the long narrow space between them the 
 Goths formed an entrenched camp when besieging Rome 
 in 539, which is very clearly described by Procopius. 
 
 The Via Latina itself passed to the E. of the Aqua 
 Claudia just before the tower, and was never recrossed by 
 it; but the Aqua Marcia crossed it thrice in the next 
 couple of miles before leaving it on the left; while both 
 aqueducts passed under the road in their subterranean 
 course some 8 miles from the city. At this point there 
 are seven tombs on the left of the road, one of them close 
 to the new railway to Naples, which, like those mentioned 
 above, seem to have aroused the interest of an unknown 
 Spanish architect of about 1570, whose drawings, with 
 many others of archaeological interest, are preserved in 
 the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. Further E., Just 
 between the present railway and the embankment of a 
 still older railway line (given up in 1890), are the remains 
 of a large villa, supplied with water from the Aqua Marcia, 
 which runs close by. The supply entered at the bottom 
 of an extremely well-preserved pentagonal reservoir in 
 two stories, ornamented with niches on the outside. The 
 villa itself is not very well preserved, but belongs to the 
 time of Hadrian, as is indicated by the very large number 
 of brick-stamps, mostly dating from a.p. 123, which I 
 found there. It is also interesting as providing the 
 
 155 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 earliest known example of the use of empty amphorae in 
 the vaulting in order to decrease its weight. The many 
 fragments of fine marbles show that it was once a building 
 of considerable magnificence: the principal buildings 
 were grouped round a courtyard. Passing through the 
 arches of the Acqua Felice, we return to the Via Latina, 
 and at about the fifth ancient mile reach the picturesque 
 farm of Roma Vecchia, in the courtyard of which are a 
 number of interesting marble fragments of inscriptions, 
 etc. It lies close to the long line of arches of the Aqua 
 Claudia, which without much interruption runs from the 
 Naples railway as far as Capannelle, where the aqueduct 
 emerged from the ground. The rapidly flowing stream 
 which passes by it is the so-called Marrana Mariana, by 
 which Pope Calixtus II in 1122 brought the water of 
 some springs just above Grottaferrata (which Agrippa 
 had tapped for the Aqua Julia) into Rome, making use, 
 in the upper portion of its course, of a natural stream, 
 which runs into the Anio, then availing himself where he 
 could (as we shall see further on) of the channels of the 
 ancient aqueducts of the Aqua Claudia, and, where he 
 could not, digging a new channel for the purpose. 
 
 The name of the farm of Sette Bassi comes from the 
 ruins of an enormous villa (one of the most prominent 
 in the lower Campagna) a little less than a mile away, which, 
 to the imagination of the peasants, seemed large enough 
 to be called ‘“‘ old Rome.’ But, inasmuch as the villa 
 of the Quintilii on the Via Appia was no whit less imposing, 
 it, too, acquired the same name; and the two were dis- 
 tinguished as “‘ Roma Vecchia di Frascati”? and “‘ Roma 
 Vecchia di Albano,”’ according to the destinations of the 
 two roads on which they lie. Indeed, we sometimes 
 find mention of a third ‘“‘ Roma Vecchia fuori di Porta 
 Maggiore ”—which would be the villa at Tor de’ Schiavi. 
 The point is not without importance; for many works 
 of ancient art in the various museums of the world have 
 their provenance indicated simply as “‘ Roma Vecchia,” 
 and this is generally understood to refer to the villa of 
 the Quintilii. After careful consideration, however, I 
 156 
 
THE VIA LATINA 
 
 think we may conclude that the excavations of 1775 and 
 the following years were made by Gavin Hamilton in the 
 villa of Sette Bassi on the Via Latina, and that we must 
 therefore attribute to it two busts, an Endymion, an 
 Ariadne, a relief of three Bacchantes, and one or two other 
 works, most of which are now in the British Museum. But 
 it is very likely that by about 1780 he was at work at the 
 villa of the Quintilii also, and it is certain that the excava- 
 tions of 1789-92, which were carried on for the express 
 benefit of the Vatican Museum, were made there. And, 
 unless or until some other source of information turns up, 
 there are many other works of art which cannot be assigned. 
 with certainty to either—so carelessly were such details 
 noted in the late eighteenth century, when the recovery 
 of works of art was the main object of excavation. 
 
 The villa on the Via Latina is known by various other 
 names in the sixteenth century. It was thought to be that 
 of Licinius Murena, and Hamilton quoted a common belief 
 that it had been that of Phyllis, the nurse of Domitian, 
 who buried his body in her country house on the Via 
 Latina—we are told no more. Others call it the Palace 
 of Lucretia—without any reason at all: while the name 
 Sette Bassi appears in the form Septembassi, the first 
 time in a document of 955, and has, of course, led to the 
 conjecture that the villa once belonged to a Septimius 
 Bassus, of whom no one has ever heard. There would be 
 more point in comparing it with the name Bassi or Vassi, 
 which appears in the neighbourhood of Tivoli (where it 
 has led to a villa near the villa of Quintilius Varus being 
 assigned to Ventidius Bassus). 
 
 All that we can say for certain is that, while the 
 villa, as we know it, falls into three distinct periods, 
 which are clearly distinguishable by differences in con- 
 struction, the interval in date between them is extremely 
 small, and all the three periods fall within the first forty 
 years of the second century after Christ. 
 
 The earliest portion is built of concrete faced with 
 brickwork (see the right of Fig. 24), or brickwork mixed 
 
 with opus reticulatum ; while in the second portion the 
 157 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 latter predominates; but in the huge constructions of 
 the third and latest part of the villa we get bands of brick- 
 work running like red stripes across the rest of the wall 
 facing, which is of small rectangular blocks of dark, ash-grey 
 peperino from the Alban Hills. To this belongs the great 
 hall, with two tiers of three windows in its back wall, 
 extending for the whole height of the building, with three 
 openings divided by pillars (centre of Fig. 24), giving on 
 to the colonnaded walk which looked on to the court- 
 yard or garden round which the main part of the villa was 
 grouped. Other halls are a good deal more ruined, but 
 we can still recognise the traces of them; and behind them 
 ran a terrace with a view towards the city on the N.W. 
 All this side of the villa was supported by a most compli- 
 cated system of vaulted chambers, in which we get the 
 earliest case known to students of architecture of the 
 intersection of ribs of tiles to form a cross vault. Rivoira, 
 in his Roman Architecture, has rightly insisted on the 
 importance of this phenomenon in all the subsequent 
 history of vaulting, and its influence on the architecture 
 of the Middle Ages. Another new feature is the existence 
 near the great hall of a large apse with external buttresses, 
 which also creates a precedent in architecture. There is 
 a window in the centre; and one can see that the architect 
 originally intended to have added another on each side, 
 but changed his mind as the building progressed. Such 
 alterations of plan are very common in Roman buildings, 
 and are interesting, as showing the manner of procedure 
 adopted. Yet another point of interest in this villa is 
 the frequency of small light shafts, due to the great height 
 of the building and the concentration of its various parts, 
 which are a distinctly modern feature. 
 
 Besides the main block of the villa there are a number 
 of detached buildings. One is a long, narrow store- 
 house (?) at the further end of the garden, which, a century 
 and a half ago, had a doorway at one end in ornamental 
 brickwork : this formed the subject for a plate of Piranesi’s 
 —the only one he dedicated to the villa, which, considering 
 
 its size, had been rather neglected by artists and architects 
 158 
 
‘ 
 ° * 
 4 
 ts 
 . 
 1 
 re = 
 - 
 ’ 
 ‘ 
 - 
 / 
 . 7 
 »* 
 ' 
 ' 
 ‘bd 
 ’ 
 . 
 +. 
 a 
 
26, VILLA OF THE QUINTILII (p. 185). 
 
 To face p, 159. 
 
THE VIA LATINA 
 
 until the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Another 
 
 is a large reservoir, supplied by a branch aqueduct, the 
 _arches of which can still be seen; it came probably from 
 
 the Anio Novus, as the foulness of the deposit seems to 
 
 indicate. 
 
 S. of the whole group, on a knoll overlooking the 
 
 : Via Latina, there is a little detached building with a large 
 
 vaulted hall in the centre, the purpose of which is un- 
 certain. It belongs to about the same period as the 
 rest of the villa, but it is perhaps a few years later. 
 
 The line of the old road continues to be traceable across 
 
 the fields: but much of its pavement has been removed 
 of recent years; and this has occurred quite lately at a 
 
 point about 2 miles further on, where it could perfectly 
 well have been preserved as a vineyard path instead of 
 being mercilessly torn up. It would have been one of the 
 best stretches of ancient pavement in the neighbourhood 
 of the city. 
 
 Just before this point the line of the old road has crossed 
 the Marrana Mariana, which made use of the underground 
 channel of the Aqua Claudia for a considerable distance, 
 from the mineral spring called the Acqua Acetosa down- 
 
 wards, being diverted into it from its natural course 
 
 towards the Anio. Above the spring, on a rocky spur—the 
 end of a lava stream, as a matter of fact—are the remains 
 of a large villa which is known by the name of Centroni 
 (Fig. 25). This can be traced back as far as 1204, and may 
 quite well be a survival of the name of one of the most 
 famous builders of villas round Rome of Juvenal’s day : 
 ** Centronius was a builder, and now he prepared towering 
 villas on the curving shore of Gaeta, now on the summit of 
 Tibur’s citadel, and now on the mountains of Praeneste, © 
 with marbles sought from Greece and distant lands, out- 
 doing the temples of Fortune and of Hercules.” Nothing 
 is left but the platform on which the house itself was 
 built; the exterior of the cryptoporticus has, however, 
 an interesting series of blind arches springing from half 
 
 - columns—a form of decoration which was to play a great 
 
 part in later architecture. In the mass of rock below is 
 159 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 a remarkable series of passages, branching off at right 
 angles from two main lines, which served as quarries for 
 pozzolana earth (so important in Roman concrete), well 
 arranged so as to exhaust every part of the hill which it 
 was safe to excavate. They are certainly of Roman 
 date, for a regular entrance to them was left in the embank- 
 ing wall of the villa; and one of the passages is lined with 
 concrete to prevent a collapse. The largest passages are 
 some 40 feet high and 18 wide; and those who wish to 
 explore them had better be provided with a light. The 
 modern road—whether even the first part of it (the Via 
 Tuscolana) is of ancient origin is extremely doubtful 
 —by this time has fallen into the line of the Via Latina, 
 and bears the name of Via Anagnina, as a reminiscence 
 of the days when it was still open as a posting route, 
 which it ceased to be at some time in the eighteenth 
 century—I find it still given as a possible route in a post- 
 book of 1717. On the opposite side is the Casale di 
 Morena, picturesquely placed on a knoll, once occupied by 
 another very large villa, which its construction has largely 
 obliterated. Whether the name, which is quite an old 
 one (fourth century), is derived from the Roman cognomen 
 Murena is not certain, though perhaps not improbable. 
 
 Quite a number of antiquities have been found here or 
 hereabouts, among them busts of Sophocles (?) and Hippo- 
 crates, acquired by Charles Townley in 1770, which are 
 now in the British Museum. 
 
 A mile of gradual ascent brings us across the Naples 
 main line, and the Frascati branch, which passes under the 
 road in a tunnel: an amusing description of which was 
 given in a little pamphlet in 1856, when the railway— 
 the first in the Papal States—began to run: ‘“* All you, 
 who quietly fly through the silent cave opened by the hand 
 of man, you know not what a barrier Nature opposed to 
 his courage! Thanks to those who were not frightened 
 by the difficulties caused by the springs, which threatened 
 to destroy the works, we too have our tunnel! ” 1 
 
 Here is the Casale Ciampino (also called Villa Senni, 
 
 1 It is marked on the map as F¥ (Fermata) Galleria. 
 160 
 
THE VIA LATINA 
 
 from its present owner), which takes its older name from 
 a learned prelate of the late seventeenth century, and has 
 passed it on to the railway junction and the aerodrome 
 a couple of miles to the W.: and here was the site of the 
 tenth ancient milestone from Rome. This being a post- 
 station and the point of intersection of the so-called Via 
 Cavona, the mediaeval name of an important cross-road 
 from the Via Appia—and even further S., though we do 
 not know how much—to the Via Praenestina, with a 
 prolongation to the Via Tiburtina—a small village sprang 
 up here. Like Ad Quintanas on the Via Labicana, it 
 took its name from the distance, and its inhabitants became 
 known as the Decimienses—the people who lived at the 
 tenth milestone. But inscriptions show that it was also 
 called Vicus Angusculanus, and was dependent on Tus- 
 culum, whose Senate and people had a shrine of the Lares 
 Augusti restored by one of their aediles. The whole 
 vineyard above Villa Senni is full of buildings belonging 
 to this village; and above are the remains of some large 
 villas which were cut through in making the electric 
 tramway to Frascati about twenty years ago. An interest- 
 ing little catacomb was also found—rather a rarity so far 
 out of Rome—the key of which is kept at the Abbey of 
 Grottaferrata. 
 
 On the other side of the modern road from Villa Senni 
 (the old road lies rather further E.) remains of a shrine 
 or temple were found in the nineties, and a number of 
 terra-cotta votive objects have come to light at various 
 times, similar to those found near Ponte di Nona. But 
 we have no proper record of any of the discoveries in the 
 area of this country village, which might have been, as 
 Lanciani remarks, extremely instructive to us. 
 
 Besides the Via Cavona, two other ancient roads turned 
 off from the Via Latina at this point, both of them to the 
 left. One kept parallel with the Via Latina for some way 
 and then joined it a mile further on; but the other takes 
 us into an important district and we must briefly speak 
 of it now. It was indeed, unless we accept the modern 
 Via Tuscolana as an ancient road (a point about which 
 
 L 161 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 it is difficult to make up one’s mind),! the best route from 
 Rome to Frascati (itself in Roman days nothing more 
 than a large Imperial villa), and the north-western slopes 
 of the ridge of Tusculum, which were a resort even more 
 favoured in ancient days than in the Renaissance. Here, 
 as in the territory of Tivoli, it would be useless to attempt 
 to mention these ruins individually—those who require 
 further details may be referred to the Bibliography—and 
 I shall only mention a few of the more important and 
 interesting ruins. 
 
 The first is a large round tomb known as the Torre di 
 Micara, and often called—for no satisfactory reason that 
 I can make out—the tomb of Lucullus. As at present 
 preserved, it is a circular wall of hewn volcanic stone, 
 with false joints, about 90 feet in diameter inside and 
 28 high; it was turned into a fortress in the Middle Ages 
 and is now a farmyard. There are some remains of tomb 
 chambers in brick; but how it terminated above in anti- 
 quity is not easy to see, as it has been so much altered. 
 
 Here four roads meet, and there were two different 
 routes to Frascati. Taking the longer, which keeps a 
 good deal higher up among the olives, we pass the remains 
 of a very large villa. Nothing but the platform is left ; 
 but this occupies an area something like 550 feet square, 
 and the S.W. part of it is entirely artificial. It contains 
 arched chambers of the most complicated description, 
 the planning of which has led both Kircher and Canina 
 astray (it is necessary to work with a light, for these 
 chambers—once one passes inside the cryptoporticus 
 which runs round the outer edge of the platform—were 
 only intended to increase the area of the platform, and 
 were not used even for the accommodation of slaves). 
 What further complicates the matter is that the platform 
 was built in front of an earlier eryptoporticus, the windows 
 of which can still be recognised, which is hidden inside 
 
 1 As the portion down from Frascati to the Via Cavona at Fonte 
 Vermicino must be ancient, we may, if the sinuousness of the rest 
 makes us reject it as a Roman road from Fonte Vermicino, suppose 
 that the old line went on in a northerly direction to the Via Labicana 
 at Torre Nuova. 
 
 162 
 
THE VIA LATINA 
 
 its innermost recesses. It was divided into two, longi- 
 tudinally, by a row of brick columns covered with stucco 
 and with Roman Doric capitals, only a few of which are 
 still standing ; and it has been rendered still more difficult 
 of access by the construction of a later supporting wall 
 along its whole length, close to the columns. The outside 
 of the later platform is decorated with half columns, 
 with semicircular arches between them, and a flat archi- 
 trave above—another case of an interesting architectural 
 feature. 
 
 Two branch roads return from here to the Via Latina, 
 taking advantage of the comparatively level ground—for 
 the ridge of Tusculum begins soon afterwards. One of 
 them goes on to the district of Castrimoenium (Marino). 
 We now pass under the Villa Muti and the Villa Montalto 
 on its outlying slopes—both occupying the sites of ancient 
 villas—and then pass close to the Villa Torlonia with its 
 wonderful fountains and ilex groves. Here, too, scanty 
 remains of Roman construction may be seen—nothing 
 else is left—and whether the foundations in the garden 
 terrace on a level with the present villa are of Roman 
 date or not is doubtful. It is, however, possible that 
 lead pipes were found here by Annibale Caro, the poet, in 
 1565, bearing the name of Lucullus; and in that case 
 here was the famous villa of this most luxurious of Romans. 
 Frascati itself has grown considerably of late years: but 
 the mediaeval nucleus of the town, confined within its old 
 walls (on which the arms of Henry Stuart, Cardinal York, 
 the last of his house, who lived here for many years as 
 bishop, and died here, may still be seen), occupies almost 
 exactly the site of a great Roman villa, of which some 
 remains of no great importance (including some remains 
 of the lower terrace, in the centre of which is a small 
 rectangular chamber with an apse at the back against the 
 hill-side, called the nymphaeum of Lucullus) have been 
 seen at various points. It appears to have belonged to 
 Passienus Crispus, whose second wife, Agrippina, the 
 mother of Nero, compassed his death for the sake of his 
 property. After her death it passed into Nero’s hands, 
 
 1638 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 and it certainly belonged to the Emperors of the Flavian 
 House, and presumably remained Imperial property right 
 through, though we have no positive evidence one way or 
 the other. It does not appear among the donations 
 of parts of the Imperial domain made by Constantine to 
 various churches in Rome and its neighbourhood; and 
 its subsequent history is quite unknown (for the legend 
 of its donation to S. Benedict has no foundation in fact) 
 until it appears again in the ninth century as a village 
 called Frascata (from frasche, bushes—derived either 
 from the material of the huts under which the inhabitants 
 sheltered or from the bushes which covered its ruins) 
 which gradually grew in importance, and had three or 
 four churches of its own even before the destruction of 
 Tusculum. 
 
 Only a little way above the modern town lies the 
 splendid Villa Aldobrandini, with its fountains and its 
 magnificent hemicycle, which Lanciani well compares with 
 an ancient nymphaeum. The Villa Mondragone rests 
 upon the remains of an ancient villa which certainly 
 belonged to the two Quintilii, and fell into the Imperial 
 domain when Commodus put them to death. Below 
 it is the so-called Barco Borghese, i.e. the Parco, or 
 enclosure, in which wild animals were kept. It, too, was 
 the site of a great villa, and has a platform entirely arti- 
 ficial, resting entirely on vaulted chambers, now (as they 
 always were) pitch dark, and displaying an almost dia- 
 bolical ingenuity on the part of their constructor. For, 
 though all the angles are right angles, they form a veritable 
 maze, and the making of the plan—the work of the late 
 Mr. F. G. Newton—was a very long and difficult business ; 
 for there was only one way, as a rule, of getting to each 
 group of chambers, and that a long and devious one; and 
 so a single wrong turning would mean retracing one’s steps. 
 Doubtless this plan has something to do with the distribu- 
 tion and weight of the buildings on the upper terrace, 
 but, as this is now merely a garden, one has unluckily 
 no notion of what they were like. And such speculations 
 seem idle as one looks down from the terrace of Mondragone 
 164 
 
THE VIA LATINA 
 
 and admires one of the finest views in the whole world 
 on a sunny day—supposing, indeed, that one is lucky 
 enough to get in. For the Frascati Villas are less easily 
 accessible than they were, the public, if what is told is 
 true, having proved themselves not too worthy of the 
 confidence their owners had placed in them; and either a 
 carriage or a guide: has, strictly speaking, to be hired, 
 even by those who wish to go through the Villa Aldo- 
 brandini up to Tusculum, so that the longer route by 
 Camaldoli is the only one that is entirely free from 
 restraint. 
 
 Below Frascati, too, there were numerous villas; but 
 what is preserved in most cases amounts to a long, rect- 
 angular platform, supported by lofty walls, the upper 
 surface of which has been used for a vineyard or oliveyard ; 
 and while there are often some subterranean chambers 
 preserved in the platform, we see little or nothing of the 
 superstructure. The only adjunct of the villa which 
 generally survives is its water reservoirs—and that owing 
 to the massiveness of their construction. ‘These vary much 
 in size—some of them are quite small single chambers, 
 while others may have six arcades each way and measure 
 as much as 100 feet square: and they are sometimes 
 above-ground, sometimes subterranean. The open circular 
 tank also occurs sometimes. 
 
 This district to the N. of Frascati was reached by 
 numerous ancient roads descending the slopes, some of 
 which end at the Via Cavona, while others descend still 
 further into the lower Campagna. One of the largest villas 
 is attributed, on the faith of an inscription on a water- 
 pipe, to the Emperor Tiberius, and another to Galba; 
 and the evidence in both cases seems to be sufficient— 
 especially as in the former case another pipe bearing 
 Vespasian’s name came to light, which showed that it 
 remained Imperial property. Half a mile to the E. of 
 the Barco di Borghese, above the road to Monte Porzio, 
 we have another Imperial villa, of which nothing is left 
 but two huge platforms known as the Cappellette (the little 
 chapels), from the niches in the supporting walls. This is 
 
 165 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 shown by lead pipes to have belonged to Matidia, the niece 
 (or the grandniece) of Trajan. 
 
 We have already seen that the villa on the site of Mon- 
 dragone became Imperial property about a.p. 183; and, 
 as all the villas that we have named lie fairly close together, 
 and in the same district, it may not be too much to suppose 
 that, by the time of Commodus, the Imperial domain 
 extended for a radius of about a mile round Frascati on 
 the N. and E. A mile further down the hill, just below 
 the Naples railway, between two of the ancient roads 
 leading down from Frascati, is a small extinct crater, 
 now full of vineyards, and bearing the name of. Pantano 
 Secco (the dry marsh). It was once a lake, and was drained 
 at some unknown date—perhaps in the Middle Ages—and 
 it is this that, from the time of Nibby onwards, has been 
 held, and in my opinion rightly, to be the famous Lake 
 Regillus, as being the only site proposed that can safely 
 be said to be in the territory of Tusculum—except Prata 
 Porci, which never was a lake at all. 
 
 Returning to the Via Latina, which we left at Villa 
 Senni, we find on the left of the modern road the pic- 
 turesque castle of Borghetto, built by the Counts of Tus- 
 culum about the end of the eleventh century, astride the 
 old road, which was avoided thenceforth as far as possible 
 by those who did not wish to have toll levied on them. 
 The deep valley to the right (which looks like an extinct 
 crater) is called the Valle Marciana; the name is an old 
 one (ninth century), and it can be by no mere chance that 
 a freedwoman of Marciana, the sister of Trajan, made 
 a dedication of some object unknown at the Vicus 
 Angusculanus, as an inscription found there records. 
 The natural inference, therefore, is that it takes its name 
 from some property which she had in the district. At 
 the southern extremity of it is the Sorgente Preziosa, a tepid 
 spring which has rightly been recognised as that of the 
 Aqua Tepula. It is not, and never was, very copious, 
 and it is rather a mystery why it was thought worth while 
 to convey it to Rome. 
 
 At the modern tramway junction (about ne twelfth 
 166 
 
THE VIA LATINA 
 
 ancient mile) the Via Latina is running almost due E.., 
 and continues to do so henceforth for about 3 miles, until 
 it comes under Tusculum. To the S. of us is the 
 famous abbey of Grottaferrata, the seat of the Basilian 
 monastery founded by S. Nilus. It may perhaps take 
 its name (Crypta Ferrata) from a square chamber under 
 the campanile of the church, which was probably the 
 cella of a Roman tomb. The monastery itself con- 
 tains various objects of interest, and notably a well- 
 kept museum of local antiquities, inscriptions, and works 
 of art. 
 
 It stands upon the remains of an ancient Roman villa 
 _—one of the many candidates (they are about as numerous 
 as those for identification with the Lake Regillus) to be 
 considered the famous Tusculan villa of Cicero. But 
 this is a tradition that cannot be traced earlier than the 
 middle of the fifteenth century : and most modern writers 
 think that it is to be sought half a mile further to the S.E. 
 -—on the southern extremity of a hill called the Colle delle 
 Ginestre, now covered with vineyards and modern houses, 
 but once, as its name would imply, with broom—where 
 the remains are more scanty, but the evidence seems to 
 them more favourable. But after having carefully 
 examined it, I am bound to state my opinion that the 
 only serious argument is this—that Cicero paid a water 
 rate for the Aqua Crabra, the springs of which are at 
 about 2,000 feet above sea-level, below Rocca Priora— 
 so that the villa cannot have been on the heights of Tus- 
 culum, which rules out a good many candidates. We really 
 know no more about its site than this (unless we could 
 be sure that the Villa of Lucullus was on the site of the 
 Villa Torlonia, and then we only know that the two were 
 ‘“near’—not how near) and the various passages in 
 ancient authors, traditional names, and discoveries of 
 works of art and other objects which are brought in as 
 evidence do not help us to determine the site more closely. 
 The tramway company has, however, followed local usage 
 in calling the place Poggio Tulliano. 
 
 In the valley to the S.—which, under the abbey, 
 
 167 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 widens out into a great ravine—are the springs of the 
 Aqua Julia, now the source of the Marrana Mariana. . 
 
 At La Pedica, which, being at the thirteenth mile, must 
 correspond with the post-station of Roboraria, the modern 
 road from Frascati intersects the Via Latina at right angles. 
 It probably follows an ancient line, and a mile S., at the 
 Ponte Squarciarelli, divides into three branches. One 
 runs southward to Marino, another due S. to the E. 
 shores of the Alban Lake, and on to Nemi and Velletri, 
 while the third ascends to Rocca di Papa. 
 
 A little further on an ancient road, the pavement of 
 which was cleared about 1850, ascends the southern slopes 
 of Tusculum, and, like the road approaching from the 
 N., reaches the city at the amphitheatre, passing the 
 tomb of one M. Coelius Vinicianus, who was a contem- 
 porary of Cicero’s. The amphitheatre was placed at 
 the western extremity of the primitive city in a depres- 
 sion in the narrow neck which almost divides the ridge 
 into two parts, and was thus an important element in the 
 defence: for here was the only easy entrance, which could 
 have been held by a small force. 
 
 At a later date this neck naturally became an important 
 traffic point, and three different ancient roads have been 
 traced as coming up here from the N. The amphitheatre 
 was, indeed, only built about the middle of the second 
 century after Christ. It has only been very partially 
 cleared, and is much filled in and overgrown; it is only 
 of moderate size (the total diameter being about 260 feet 
 by 175 feet). To the W. is a large flat rectangular meadow 
 surrounded by pines, above the Villa Rufinella—the site 
 of a large villa, which most writers wish to call that of 
 Cicero; while on the E. is a great platform supported 
 by arched substructions, which in considerable measure 
 have fallen away down the slope. This was thought 
 to be the villa of Cicero in the sixteenth century, but 
 lately has often been called the villa of Tiberius. But 
 on the platform there is nothing but a large core of con- 
 crete, which seems quite clearly to be the podium of a 
 temple facing S.W., and, though somewhat small in pro- 
 168 
 
THE VIA LATINA 
 
 portion to the size of the platform on which it stands, is 
 very well placed as regards position, commanding as it 
 does a magnificent view over the lower ground over the 
 slopes of the crater lake of Albano, and right away down 
 to the sea. The site is thus eminently suitable for one 
 of the chief temples of the city. As the temple of Castor 
 and Pollux must be sought at the highest summit, we 
 may, if we will, assign this temple to Jupiter. Macrobius 
 says that “there are some who record that this month 
 (May) came into our calendar from that of Tusculum, in 
 which Maius is still called a god, who is Jupiter, so called, 
 that is, from his greatness and majesty.” And Livy 
 tells us that it was struck by lightning in 210 B.c., and 
 almost the whole of the roof was removed. To the left 
 of the ruins the main road ascends the ridge in a south- 
 easterly and then in an easterly direction, while a branch 
 goes off parallel to it at a rather lower level, leading to 
 some private houses on the slopes to the N. 
 
 A few hundred yards further up an open level space 
 seems to mark the site of the forum, the remains of 
 which were discovered by excavations in the first half of 
 last century, together with a number of inscriptions and 
 works of art, several of which, until quite recently, were 
 built into a small house on the site; most of the latter 
 have now been removed for safe keeping. The forum 
 was soon, however, covered up again, and whether the 
 plan that we have of it is trustworthy is a little uncertain. 
 
 On the. E. side of the area lay the theatre, the stage 
 of which still has the chamber under it, reached by 
 rectangular shafts, from which the curtain was drawn 
 up. But the best-preserved portion is the cavea, where 
 the rows of seats, resting against the hill-side, may still 
 be seen. To the right are three or four steps on a curve 
 —probably a fountain fed by the large square reservoir 
 just behind the theatre. On the left of the forum a 
 road descends to an interesting fountain; the basin, a 
 rectangular trough of volcanic stone, bears on the front 
 an inscription of two aediles of the time of Cicero. The 
 chamber at the back is interesting as having a pointed 
 
 169 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 roof and not a rounded arch—which has induced some 
 to attribute to it a very high antiquity, though I myself 
 am not inclined to do so, and the embankment wall in 
 which it is enclosed does not seem to be very early either. 
 Only a little way further on the ground rises steeply to 
 the summit, where undoubtedly stood the citadel—now, 
 however, entirely covered with ruins of the mediaeval 
 buildings and fortifications destroyed in 1191, when Tus- 
 culum ceased to exist, its place being taken by Frascati. 
 The position is of great natural strength, as the ground 
 falls steeply away on all sides; and it has been still further 
 strengthened by cuttings in the rock, though of forti- 
 fications of the Roman or pre-Roman period there is no 
 trace. At the very top of the hill is a cross, planted there 
 in October 18991 by the students of the English College 
 during their villeggiatura at Monte Porzio, where their 
 country house was until they acquired Palazzola a few 
 years back. Among the blocks of stone used to support 
 it was an inscription of about 70 B.c., probably set up by 
 the attendants of the temple of Castor and Pollux. That 
 the inscription was brought up here afterwards (unless 
 _as building material in the Middle Ages) is unlikely ; and 
 we may, therefore, suppose that the temple stood up here. 
 The history of Tusculum may be briefly sketched 
 as follows. According to tradition it was founded by 
 Telegonus, the son of Ulysses and Circe. The first men- 
 tion of it is on the occasion when its chief, Octavius Mami- 
 lius, espoused the cause of his father-in-law, Tarquinius 
 Superbus, on his expulsion from Rome, and led the thirty — 
 cities of the Latin League against Rome at the battle 
 of the Lake Regillus. The history of the subsequent 
 period is not very clear; one authority states that it 
 was taken by the Romans in 484 B.c. Coins of the late 
 Republic allude to its relief by Rome when besieged by 
 the Latins in 374 B.c., and it was one of the oldest of 
 Roman municipalities, and seems to have remained friendly 
 to Rome, with two exceptions. In 211 B.c. Hannibal 
 
 1 It took the place of several earlier ones (The Venerabile (Rome, 
 1926), iii. 27). | 
 170 
 
THE VIA LATINA 
 
 appeared before its gates, but was not admitted and did 
 not attempt to force an entrance. It may have been in 
 vogue as a villeggiatura as early as this: at the end of 
 the Republic, at any rate, as Cicero says, it was full of 
 men of consular rank: it was so favourite a summer 
 resort that it had become almost a suburb of Rome: but 
 during the Imperial period the town itself is hardly 
 mentioned. 
 
 Its mediaeval history is obscure, and in the ninth century 
 we have the rise of the famous Counts of Tusculum, from 
 whom the Colonna family traces its descent. In 1167 
 the people of Tusculum, with the help of a small band 
 of Germans, defeated the Romans at Monte Porzio; but 
 three years later it had to surrender to the Pope: while 
 in 1191 it was handed over to the Romans, who left not 
 one stone upon another. 
 
 A road diverging to the left of the theatre avoided 
 the ascent to the arx, keeping under it and continuing 
 along the top of the ridge beyond it. From this road, 
 traces of the pavement of which still exist, we may com- 
 mand a view of the Via Latina; it runs in the deep valley 
 below (the Valle della Molara) between the ridge in which 
 we are, which is the rim of the original larger crater of 
 
 ‘the Alban volcano, and the smaller crater which was 
 _ raised by a later eruption in the centre of it. There are 
 a certain number of villas on the ridge and its southern 
 slopes; while lower down on the N. lie the villages of 
 Monte Porzio (derived from the mediaeval name Mons 
 Porculus, and having nothing to do with Porcius Cato) 
 and Monte Compatri. The road passed to the 5. of the 
 highest point of the ridge, the Monte Salomone (2,536 feet), 
 on which there are the remains of a large mediaeval 
 castle, covered by mounds of earth. To the W. of it is a 
 path (probably on an ancient line) descending steeply to 
 the N. through a narrow valley to the monastery of 
 S. Silvestro above Monte Compatri, while another branch 
 road ran down more gradually along the slopes on the 
 S. to the Via Latina. Keeping up and straight on, Rocca 
 Priora is reached in another mile and a half. This high- 
 
 471 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 lying village is probably identical with the ancient Corbio. 
 Its order in the various lists of the ancient cities of Latium 
 may or may not be topographical, and it would be hazar- 
 dous to try and determine its position from them. But 
 it is quite clear from the account of Horatius’s campaign 
 against the Aequi of the mountains to the S.E. that it 
 was not far from Algidus; while of Ortona, which is 
 mentioned in connexion with it, we know nothing at 
 all. The Arx Carventana, which was an important post 
 in the continual warfare with the Aequi for the pass of 
 Algidus—which meant the command of the route to the 
 S.E.—is equally undiscoverable, and it is not bound to 
 correspond with any site at present inhabited. An equal 
 disappointment will probably be the lot of anyone who 
 attempts to find the temples of Diana and Fortune in 
 Algido—the former often mentioned by Horace, the latter 
 once by Livy. I have ascended every summit along the 
 rim of the crater and have found no traces of anything 
 that can with any certainty be identified with them. 
 
 At the actual pass, which is just beyond the twenty- 
 eighth ancient milestone, and is a narrow gap in the crater 
 rim, very easily defensible, there is nothing but the 
 remains of the post-station of the Osteria dell’ Aglio or 
 della Cava; while on the Maschio d’Ariano, the prominent 
 summit a couple of miles to the S., there is nothing but 
 a very large mediaeval castle : and those who have thought 
 that the Temple of Diana was here have simply mistaken 
 for it the apse of the church of the castle—which, of course, 
 may have obliterated the temple. The view from the 
 summit is, of course, magnificent; but so it is from any 
 of the summits as we go S.W. along the ridge, over the 
 Monte Peschio (the highest point of all, 3,080 feet above 
 sea-level) and on to the deep depression through which 
 the post-road to Velletri crossed the Maczhia della Faiola, 
 by a steep ascent on which brigandage was so frequent 
 that a hill close by acquired the name of Monte degli 
 Appesi, or Hangman Hill. 
 
 Returning to the pass, we find the Via Latina descend- 
 ing fairly rapidly, with a branch going off to the Via 
 172 
 
THE VIA LATINA 
 
 Labicana almost at once. The line of the road can be 
 clearly traced, but the country is less interesting, and 
 there are few remains of buildings. As we have seen, 
 there are several branch roads connecting these two 
 main roads; while two branch roads led to the S. 
 through the gap between the Alban Hills and the Volscian 
 mountains. 
 
 The modern village of Artena lies on a spur projecting 
 to the N. from them; and high above it are the massive 
 walls of unhewn limestone blocks of an old town, the 
 ancient name of which is uncertain. Our road keeps 
 far below it, and eventually is joined by the Via Labicana 
 at Ad Bivium. 
 
 _ 1738 
 
VII 
 
 THE VIA APPIA 
 
 dealing with it fully has never been written. The 
 
 reasons for this are various. If we take the road 
 as a whole there are very few writers who have ever 
 studied, still less followed, its entire course. Mr. Robert 
 Gardner and I are among them: but the publication 
 of our results has been delayed chiefly by a difficulty 
 which affects more especially the first part of the road. 
 This is the non-existence till now of indices to vol. vi. 
 of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, in which will 
 be found the inscriptions, mainly sepulchral, of the first 
 9 miles of the road; and as the tombs of the Via Appia 
 were in origin more numerous and are certainly better 
 known and preserved than those of any other road—thanks 
 largely to the excavations conducted and described by 
 Canina under the order of Pius IX, as we shall see in the 
 sequel—the lack has been a serious one. 
 
 When we pass beyond the Alban Hills and reach the 
 Pomptine Marshes, considerations of a different order 
 have deterred us. It is this section of the Archaeological 
 Survey of Italy, extending as far as Terracina and the old 
 Neapolitan frontier, which still forms the boundary be- 
 tween the compartimenti of Latium and Campania, between 
 the province of Rome (which is co-extensive with the 
 former) and the province of Caserta (which is the north- 
 westernmost province of the latter), that has been selected 
 by the Italian authorities for the commencement of their 
 labours: and these are already well advanced. 
 
 From what I have said it will be clear that the moment 
 174 
 
 | De THE FAME of the Via Appia, a monograph 
 
THE VIA APPIA 
 
 has not yet arrived when the history of the Via Appia and 
 its monuments as a whole can profitably be written, 
 though we shall before long have before us all the avail- 
 able material, so that the task will not need to be greatly 
 delayed. 
 
 In the meantine, there is a somewhat bewildering maze 
 of general works and special monographs: and I would 
 suggest as a useful indication for those who desire to 
 pursue the subject in detail an article of my own in the 
 Mélanges de l’Ecole Frangaise, xxiii. (1903) 375 sqq., in 
 which they will find much of the bibliography. 
 
 It is a short catalogue raisonné of a collection of 226 
 drawings of the various monuments of the Via Appia 
 from Rome to Benevento, drawn by Carlo Labruzzi in 
 _1777, in which year he accompanied Sir Richard Colt 
 Hoare, of Stourhead, in a tour along the road. Sir 
 Richard, in his Recollections Abroad (reprinted in his 
 Classical Tour), has described the journey in some detail. 
 The drawings themselves, bound in five splendid folio 
 volumes, were in Sir Richard’s own library. They were 
 sold with the rest of the Stourhead treasures in 1883, 
 came up again at Christie’s in 1901, were knocked down 
 for a ridiculously low figure, and soon passed into my 
 possession. 
 
 Another set, which contains only 188 drawings, which 
 are Labruzzi’s preliminary drafts for Sir Richard’s set, 
 is in the Biblioteca Sarti in Rome, and there are a few 
 others in private collections which are not to be found in 
 either series. 
 
 Only 48 of them have been engraved, 24 in full size by 
 _Labruzzi himself, and 24 more by Parboni and Poggioli, 
 on a reduced scale. 
 
 The only modern general work on the subject is Ripos- 
 telli and Marucchi’s Via Appia, and that does not go 
 beyond the-sixth mile. 
 
 The Via Appia was constructed in 312 B.c. as a military 
 road by the famous censor Appius Claudius Caecus. 
 Livy speaks of the march of the mutineers of 342 B.c. 
 from’ Campania as far as the eighth mile of the road 
 
 175 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 quae nunc Appia est.1 It runs in an absolutely straight 
 line from just beyond the Almo as far as Terracina 
 (with only one slight divergence just beyond Aricia), and 
 this is probably due to an autocratic order by the blind 
 old censor. 
 
 It seems very doubtful whether the primitive track 
 which led from Rome to the southern shores of the Alban 
 Lake would have taken a line of this kind: such is not a 
 characteristic of early roads, and we have probably found 
 already in the Via Castrimoeniensis the original track 
 to Alba Longa and the southern portion of the Alban 
 Hills. Aerial photography may, of course, resolve our 
 doubts, and, indeed, until this test has been apphed it 
 would seem advisable to reserve judgment. 
 
 The successive prolongations of the road to Venusia, 
 Tarentum, and finally to its termination at Brindisium, 
 need not detain us here, and we may turn our attention 
 to the study of the course of the road itself. 
 
 Remains of the Porta Capena of the Servian wall 
 were found by Parker in 1867, and its site is now marked 
 by a brick ruin in the middle of one of the lawns of the 
 Passeggiata Archeologica.2. The principal artery of this 
 park, a road about 50 feet wide, follows a tortuous course, 
 and has completely obliterated the line of the older road 
 which was previously to be seen running between narrow 
 walls. Excavations down to the ancient level would, it 
 is true, have been difficult, as the water would have been 
 reached very soon. 
 
 The distance from the Porta Capena to the Porta Appia 
 of the walls of Aurelian (corrupted into Porta d’Accia in 
 the Middle Ages), the modern Porta S. Sebastiano, is 
 just over a mile. 
 
 There are a number of interesting monuments, both 
 Pagan and Christian, which, however, are generally dealt 
 with in connexion with the city of Rome itself, and need 
 not, therefore, be described here. 
 
 1 VII. 39. 
 * A branch of the Aqua Marcia passed over it, and both Juvenal 
 and Martial allude to the dripping of the water from the arch. 
 
 176 
 
 \ 
 
THE VIA APPIA 
 
 The site of the first milestone would thus fall, not 
 outside the Porta S. Sebastiano (where a modern inscrip- 
 tion has been set up), but just inside, as Lanciani had 
 already determined.! 
 
 A milestone set up by Vespasian, with an additional 
 inscription of Nerva, was found in the sixteenth century, 
 and was placed on the balustrade of the Capitol, where it 
 still stands. It is perhaps the best known of Roman 
 milestones, and its shape is typical of the period. 
 
 The gate itself is one of the most imposing of the whole 
 enceinte. It is flanked by two semicircular external 
 towers of brick, which (as they stand) do not form part 
 of the original structure. This has, indeed, been com- 
 
 pletely transformed by restorations after the period of 
 - Aurelian. 
 
 The lower part of these towers has been masked and 
 strengthened, as in the Porta Flaminia, by rectangular 
 bastions of blocks of marble resting on a base of blocks of 
 travertine. These bastions were probably added by 
 Honorius, and the same I believe to have been the case 
 at the Porta Flaminia. ‘The marble blocks doubtless came 
 from tombs: a number of them have projecting bosses. 
 
 Immediately outside the gate, on the high ground on 
 the left, was a celebrated temple of Mars, the ascent to 
 which was known as the Clivus Martis. An inscription, 
 now in the Vatican, records that its steepness was reduced 
 at the public expense. Every year the knights rode in 
 procession from here to the Capitol. The temple gave its 
 name of Ad Martis to the whole neighbourhood, even 
 down to Christian times; and the poet Terence had a 
 garden hereabouts. 
 
 The house on the right, immediately before reaching 
 the railway, is built upon an ancient tomb of the first or 
 the second century after Christ. Some of the ornamental 
 brickwork of the exterior is still visible; and the interior, 
 a chamber with a barrel vault decorated with reliefs in 
 stucco, is fairly well preserved. The niches for the urns 
 may still be seen. 
 
 1 Storia degli Scavi, iii. 11. 
 M 177 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 On the other side of the railway a lane goes off west- 
 ward to the Via Ostiensis (the so-called Vicolo della 
 Travicella, i.e. Traversella), which is probably of ancient 
 origin. Immediately beyond it we cross a brook,* the 
 ancient Almo, by a bridge which has been restored in 
 the Middle Ages. Tomassetti? states that traces of the 
 ancient bridge, and of the artificial bed of the stream made 
 of peperino slabs, can be seen when the water is low enough. 
 The river god was worshipped by the Romans, and at 
 the confluence of the stream with the Tiber the statue of 
 Cybele, and the objects connected with her worship, 
 were solemnly washed on March 27th. The stream itself 
 must in ancient times have had its origin near Capannelle, 
 on the Via Latina: the arrangement by which it still 
 receives the greater part of its waters from the Marrana 
 dell’? Acqua Mariana is mediaeval. 
 
 As soon as we have crossed the Almo, the series of 
 tombs on each side of the Via-Appia begins to be prominent. 
 We first see a huge mass of concrete on the left, which is 
 generally attributed to Geta; and a similar mass on the 
 right, with an internal chamber, which is usually called 
 the tomb of Priscilla, the wife of Abascantus, freedman 
 of Domitian. The grounds for these attributions are in 
 both cases insufficient. 
 
 At the second mile, according to Pliny the Elder, was 
 situated the Campus Rediculi, where a pet crow of Tiberius 
 was buried, and there is every likelihood that it was 
 connected with the fanum Rediculi, the sanctuary of the 
 divinity who, it was believed, caused Hannibal to turn 
 back from his advance on Rome. 
 
 On the left is the church of Domine quo vadis ? which 
 takes its name from the well-known legend that S. Peter, 
 flying from Rome, met Our Lord, and asked him the 
 question. Our Lord replied, Vado iterum crucifigi, and 
 S. Peter returned to the city to meet his death. A paving- 
 stone of the road, with the imprint of Our Lord’s footsteps 
 (as is believed) is still preserved in the church. The 
 
 : Ag modern name Acquataccio is a corruption of Acqua d’Accia. 
 
 » 40. 
 178 
 
THE VIA APPIA 
 
 legend can be traced back as far as the third century, and 
 was accepted as genuine by St. Ambrose. 
 
 Just beyond it are the divergence of the Via Ardeatina 
 (on the right) and the Valle della Caffarella (on the left), 
 and here is a circular chapel erected by Cardinal Reginald 
 Pole. Here the straight line of the Via Appia actually 
 begins. 
 
 Beyond it the road begins to rise, and on the left again 
 is the huge concrete core of a tomb; while on the same 
 side, at the top of the hill, is a large columbarium, now 
 the wine-cellar of an osteria. Its niches are empty: it 
 is generally called that of the freedman of Augustus, 
 but without reason; while that of the slaves and freed- 
 men of Livia, found in the eighteenth century, was 
 destroyed, and its inscriptions conveyed to the Capitoline 
 Museum. 
 
 On the right, occupying the whole space between the 
 Via Appia and the present course of the Via Ardeatina, as 
 far as the Via delle Sette Chiese, is the property which 
 has been assigned to the Trappist monks of Tre Fontane, 
 who are the guardians of the catacombs of 5. Calisto. 
 
 Here may be seen the remains of several tombs, one of 
 which is interesting, as giving the transition between the 
 rites of cremation and inhumation at the beginning of 
 the third century after Christ—both being found in use in 
 the same tomb. 
 
 Numerous inscriptions which have been found in the 
 course of agricultural operations are built into the walls 
 of the farm. 
 
 The catacombs themselves can hardly find description 
 here. An ancient road may still be seen in the garden 
 above them, running E.S.E., ie. in a direction which, if 
 prolonged, falls into the line of the Via Appia Pignatelli, 
 which makes the antiquity of the latter probable if not 
 certain. The Via Appia Pignatelli, which diverges to the 
 left of the Via Appia a little further on, takes its name 
 from Innocent XII, who belonged to this family, and who 
 constructed it as far as the Via Appia Nuova, which it 
 
 joins between the fourth and the fifth mile. It is very 
 179 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 likely that it follows the line of an ancient road which served 
 as a mediaeval variation of the Via Appia, very likely after 
 the establishment of the castle at Capo di Bove. 
 
 On the left, beyond the divergence, are the Jewish cata- 
 combs of the Vigna Randanini; while others lie on the 
 Via Appia Pignatelli. Tomassetti points out that these 
 cemeteries form a group, and are doubtless connected 
 with the fact of the existence of a Jewish colony near the 
 Porta Capena. 
 
 Before we follow the Via Appia itself further, it may 
 be well to study the Triopion, an estate of Annia Regilla, 
 the wife of Herodes Atticus, to which the Via Appia 
 Pignatelli leads. Herodes was a Greek philosopher, the 
 teacher of Marcus Aurelius and of Lucius Verus. The 
 death of his wife, in a.p. 161, left him a widower, and he 
 was accused by her brother of being concerned in her 
 death. Suspicion continued to weigh on him, and he 
 tried to justify himself in the eyes of the world by extrava- 
 gant expressions of grief. Inscriptions now in Paris 
 (there are facsimiles of them in the Villa Borghese) and 
 at Naples mention a temple consecrated to Ceres and 
 Faustina and a field sacred to Minerva and to Nemesis, 
 well guarded and enclosed by a wall. 
 
 Little remains of these buildings, and of all the magni- 
 ficence with which they were decorated. For Herodes 
 Atticus was the richest man of his time (owing his wealth, 
 so the story goes, in great measure to the accidental dis- 
 covery by his father of a very large hoard of treasure in 
 the foundations of a house he owned in Athens), and 
 spent enormous sums in embellishing various cities of 
 Greece ; and the Stadium of Athens, where his tomb was 
 placed, was his gift to the city. A few interesting relics 
 of his estate are still to be seen. First there is the church 
 of S. Urbano, no doubt the temple of Ceres and Faustina, 
 in which was the statue of Annia Regilla herself—a brick 
 building with a portico of four columns. Inside are some 
 interesting frescoes of the year 1011, illustrating the lives 
 of S. Urban and three other saints, which are of im- 
 portance in the history of the art of the period. Near 
 180 
 
THE VIA APPIA 
 
 S. Urbano are scanty remains of other buildings: high up 
 on the right is a prominent water reservoir, and on a lower 
 knoll a grove of ilexes, which, of course, has nothing to 
 do with the nymph Egeria, the counsellor of Numa Pom- 
 pilius, whose grove was outside the Servian wall. 
 
 Below in the valley is a nymphaeum, called the grotto 
 of the nymph Egeria under the same misconception—an 
 oblong chamber with niches and a fountain at the end, 
 with a recumbent female statue from a sarcophagus over 
 it to typify the nymph. It was all once faced with marble, 
 but now is unadorned except with maidenhair. It has 
 frequently formed the subject of sketches and studies by 
 artists and architects of all nations. 
 
 Above on the hill is the entrance to the catacombs of 
 Praetextatus; and further down the valley towards 
 Rome, standing in a farmyard, is a picturesque brick 
 tomb, finely decorated on the outside with columns and 
 cornices in cut brick, of great elegance in design: while 
 the use of yellow bricks in combination with the dark 
 red gives a very beautiful colour-effect. It is thought 
 by Lanciani and Lugli to have been the tomb of Annia 
 Regilla, and though the interior will be seen, by those 
 who penetrate into what is now a fowl-house, to be faced 
 with brickwork of far less careful construction, the identi- 
 fication will probably stand. It is generally known as 
 the temple of the Deus Rediculus, but there is of course no 
 warrant for the name. 
 
 Returning to the Via Appia, we find the church of S. 
 Sebastiano on the right, with its memories of SS. Peter 
 and Paul. Without entering deeply into the controversies 
 which have been aroused by the recent discoveries there— 
 and which, as they mainly concern Christian archaeology, 
 do not belong to our present subject—we may notice 
 that it was found that the church was built on the edge 
 of a low cliff some 25 feet high, at the foot of which were 
 three finely preserved tombs, originally columbaria, but 
 later changed into burial vaults and used by Christians in 
 the first half of the third century a.p. These tombs 
 must have given the origin to the name catacomb from 
 
 181 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 kara kvpBas (in the hollows), while at the top of the 
 depression was a line of still earlier columbaria along a 
 branch road of the Via Appia. About the middle of the 
 third century the tombs were destroyed and covered over, 
 and a large open court built over the whole, joining on, 
 it would seem, to a villa which already existed near the 
 earlier tombs, parts of which, however, were at the same 
 time destroyed. The walls of it bear inscriptions showing 
 that in this century and the next the place was visited 
 by pilgrims, because it was in some way connected with 
 the Apostles—perhaps their bodies were removed here 
 from their resting-places by the Via Ostiensis and the 
 Via Cornelia for temporary security during the persecu- 
 tion of A.D. 258.1 | 
 On the left, at the bottom of the hill, is a farmhouse, 
 built on the foundations of the circular temple-tomb of 
 Romulus, the son of Maxentius, who died in his childhood. | 
 It stands in the centre of a large square courtyard, in 
 which must have assembled the processions before they 
 entered the circus which lies behind. This circus is 
 extremely well preserved, and was doubtless erected for 
 the funeral games in his honour. An inscription erected 
 to him after his deification served to identify it—previ- 
 ously, for some strange reason, the whole group was 
 associated with Caracalla—and was placed at the curved 
 end of the circus after the excavations of 1828, in which 
 it was completely cleared and planned. We may note 
 especially the spina—the long wall down the middle, 
 which divided the arena into two halves, and was decorated — 
 with fountains, etc.—and also with egg-like objects, 
 which marked the number of laps run. On it stood an 
 obelisk, which originally belonged to some monument of 
 the time of Domitian, and was brought here by Maxentius ; 
 it was excavated in 1649, and taken by Innocent XII to 
 adorn Piazza Navona, which, being built on the ruins of 
 the stadium, is of precisely the same shape as the circus. 
 1 A summary of the discussion will be found in Professor Stuart 
 
 Jones’s article on ‘‘ The Apostles in Rome ”’ in the Quarterly Review 
 for October 1925. 
 
 182 
 
THE VIA APPIA 
 
 The vaulting which supported the seats has fallen, but 
 we may see the empty jars which were built into it in 
 order to decrease its weight. The outer walls and the 
 towers (oppida) on each side of the carceres, or starting 
 gates, are well preserved. On the N. side of the circus, 
 which runs due E. and W., is the Imperial box, in com- 
 munication with a large villa, with two ruined apses with 
 half domes. The greater part of it was erected by Maxen- 
 tius, including a gallery or portico over 200 yards long 
 connecting it with the circus, under which traces of earlier 
 buildings may be seen. 
 
 We now ascend again steeply, and on the left find the 
 circular tomb of Caecilia Metella. Whether her husband 
 was the triumvir Crassus or not has been treated as doubt- 
 ful: but from a careful study of the decorations it seems 
 clear that the tomb should be attributed to the beginning 
 of the Augustan period, whereas the triumvir fell at Carrhae 
 in 53 B.c. It is therefore more probably his son (or even 
 grandson) who is in question. 
 
 The tomb itself, a great drum of concrete faced with 
 blocks of travertine, stood on a square base, of which only 
 the core remains. It was some 60 feet in diameter outside. 
 Two corridors, one above the other, led into the brick- 
 lined chamber in the interior of the core, which now has 
 no roof. This is generally believed to have been supported 
 by a conical vault, but we really do not know much about 
 it, though a conical termination to the whole, projecting 
 above the drum, is the most probable. In any case, xt 
 was removed when the monument became the keep of 
 the castle, which first belonged to the Counts of Tusculum, 
 and passed to the Caetani in the time of Boniface VIII, 
 when it was restored. The baronial palace was built 
 close against the keep, and opposite it was the Gothic 
 church: the castle itself occupied a rectangular space 
 defended by towers, enclosing the road for a length of 
 over 200 yards. This, no doubt, led gradually to its 
 abandonment in favour of the Via Appia Pignatelli. 
 
 The castle was called Capo di Bove from the ox skulls 
 on the frieze of the tomb, and a lofty tower a mile or so to 
 
 183 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 the S. was called jestingly Zampa di Bove (the hoof of 
 the ox). | 
 
 The Via Appia has now reached the summit of a long 
 ridge, formed by a lava stream from the Alban voleano, 
 and runs along it for over 8 miles, commanding the 
 most magnificent views over the whole Campagna, the 
 flatter district between it and the Sabine mountains, 
 the Alban Hills, and that desolate country between itself 
 and the range of high sand dunes that shuts out the view of 
 the sea. In this straight stretch it is flanked by an almost 
 continuous line of tombs, all of them in a more or less 
 ruined condition. They were excavated in the papacy 
 of Pius EX under the direction of Canina, and the fragments 
 discovered have in some cases been set up on or near 
 the tombs, while in others they have been dispersed. The 
 excavators were not able to go as far inwards from the 
 road as might have been advisable, in order to lay bare 
 the monuments of minor importance which probably 
 lay behind the more prominent tombs in the front row— 
 if we are to judge by the analogy of other roads, and also 
 by such excavations as have been made, e.g. on the right 
 just beyond the fourth mile, in the Lugari property. Here 
 there is a large brick tomb built on an ancient cross-road, 
 which once led to a large villa. The plan of this has been 
 recovered and published ; when excavated, it was remark- 
 ably complete in all its details, the rooms being grouped 
 round three sides of a peristyle with a garden on the 
 fourth. Many of them could be identified with more or 
 less certainty, and the baths and one of the store-rooms, 
 with a series of huge jars as at Ostia, were especially well 
 preserved. The original house was a small structure 
 of the Republican period, with a little courtyard, and a 
 cistern under it. To this the larger building was added 
 in the time of Antoninus Pius and altered later, a Christian 
 oratory and baptistery being added. 
 
 The large tomb is probably that of S. Urban the bishop, 
 a contemporary of S. Caecilia, who suffered martyrdom 
 under Marcus Aurelius; and the house is then that of 
 Marmenia, who herself was beheaded with her daughter 
 184 
 
THE VIA APPIA 
 
 and some twenty-two others, all of whom were very 
 likely buried on the spot, as exactly this number of bodies 
 was found. Other houses were also found on the same 
 estate: and indeed it is likely that the ground on both 
 sides of the main road for some considerable distance was 
 occupied by buildings, as it offers such splendid sites. 
 
 At the fifth mile on the left there are far more con- 
 siderable ruins—those of the great villa of the Quintilii, 
 which cover a large extent of ground, of over a quarter of 
 a mile square. I have studied them in detail and pub- 
 lished plans of them, so that I need only refer briefly to 
 the villa here.4' The earliest buildings, which are the first 
 we come to, belong to the time of Hadrian, including the 
 large and prominent buttressed reservoir, to which a 
 mediaeval tower has been added, which is now the farm- 
 house of S. Maria Nuova (Fig. 26). To the second period 
 belonged a long, narrow garden in the shape of a stadium, 
 with the curved end towards the Via Appia. This garden 
 ran north-eastward towards the brow of the hill, where 
 the principal buildings of the villa were situated, looking 
 down on the Via Appia Nuova. There was a private 
 branch aqueduct, starting probably from the channel 
 of the Aqua Marcia: and the names on the water pipes 
 showed thai the villa had belonged to two wealthy brothers, - 
 Quintilius Condianus and Quintilius Maximus, whose death 
 was compassed by Commodus for motives of jealousy 
 and perhaps for the sake of their property, in which he 
 certainly afterwards lived. 
 
 It seems to me probable that some of the extensive 
 alterations in the villa are due to him—and, in particular, 
 the change in the garden. ‘The curved end of it was given 
 up, and pierced by an entrance with three openings 
 leading into a small courtyard, upon which fronted 
 a large monumental fountain, with a semicircular arch 
 above it: but the rest of it was much enlarged, and 
 became rectangular in shape. Further changes were made 
 in the villa proper at various periods, and notably the 
 two great rectangular halls, which still tower above the 
 
 1 See Ausonia, iv. 25. 
 
 185 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 rest, were inserted at a comparatively late period. One 
 of them is interesting inasmuch as it was undoubtedly 
 a hot bath—for the terra-cotta flue-pipes can still be seen 
 in its walls—and yet it had a number of very large 
 windows on all four sides, which must in some way have 
 been closed. Window-glass was not unknown to the 
 ancients, but large panes were never made; and if these 
 were windows at all, and cloths were not employed—as 
 sometimes in the Renaissance—to close the openings, 
 we must suppose that the frames were massive. At 
 S. Sabina, for instance, the sixth-century round-headed 
 windows of the nave had heavy gypsum frames, with 
 small panes of selenite let into them. 
 
 In contrast to the comparative concentration of Sette 
 Bassi there is such a lack of unity in the appearance of 
 the various parts of the villa, as it is at present, that it is 
 not surprising that its true nature was not suspected until - 
 the excavation of 1828; and it was previously called 
 Roma Vecchia. We have seen that most of the objects 
 found there at the end of the eighteenth century are in 
 the Vatican, though one of the best—a boy with a goose, 
 from an original by the sculptor Boéthius, is in the Louvre 
 —while those found in the later excavations are in the 
 inaccessible Museo Torlonia. The plan was unluckily 
 not taken on either occasion—which is unfortunate, as 
 as the recent appearance of the motor-plough, now busy 
 here as elsewhere in fighting what Mussolini calls the 
 “battaglia del grano,” simultaneously brought to light 
 and destroyed the remains of a long row of pilasters, 
 which belonged to a portico, as it would seem, though now 
 it is difficult to assign them to their proper place. 
 
 Two mounds on the opposite side of the road are ground- 
 lessly called the tombs of the Horatii and Curatii: they 
 probably conceal large mausolea of the Imperial period. 
 A little further on, in a field on the same side, is a curious 
 monument, made out of blocks of marble from tombs 
 (some of them still bearing inscriptions), which seems to 
 have been an oil press with basins for refining the oil— 
 currently known as the farmacia, or chemist’s shop. 
 186 
 
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 To face p. 187. 
 
THE VIA APPIA 
 
 Half a mile or more on the left is the large round tomb 
 known as Casal Rotondo, with a house (the base of a 
 lofty mediaeval tower, now gone) on the top of it. 
 
 To whom it belonged is unknown—the inscription of 
 Cotta, which some associate with it, cannot be said to 
 belong to it with any certainty. Here the new railway 
 to Naples passes under the Via Appia ; and an ancient 
 branch road ran off due S., being joined near the Casale 
 Torricola (it has given its name to a railway station which 
 may be a convenience to walkers when the train service 
 improves) by another, which diverged from the Via Appia 
 near the tomb of Caecilia Metella, and kept at half a mile 
 or so from it all the way: it led on to the district of 
 Fiorano. Half a mile further is the Torre di Selce, a 
 mediaeval tower of grey peperino, with a band of white 
 marble to render it visible from a distance (as elsewhere 
 in the Campagna). It stands on a large round tomb, the 
 concrete foundations of which are in the form of a wheel : 
 the intervals between the spokes were no doubt filled 
 with earth, the mass of which was thus better supported 
 than would otherwise have been the case. 
 
 A little further on the road descends sharply in a curve, 
 and there is. another prominent tower on the right. The 
 route to the Alban Hills (Fig. 27) was evidently well 
 guarded by its masters. On the same side, by the road, 
 are some ruins of a sanctuary of Silvanus, which is not far 
 from a temple of Hercules reconstructed by Domitian, 
 8 miles from Rome and 6 from the Arx Albana (his Alban 
 villa on the site of Alba Longa). There, too, was the 
 estate of the satirist Persius, where he died. Other tombs 
 are to be seen here and there, though they become rarer. 
 On the right, about the ninth mile, we may note a large 
 round mausoleum, which may be that of Gallienus: for 
 we know it to have been at this distance from the city. 
 
 Here or hereabouts, too, Gavin Hamilton found the 
 Discobolus preparing for the throw (a copy of a work of 
 the sculptor Naucydes) in 1792 : it is now in the Vatican. 
 
 Here is the farm of Fiorano, within which are various 
 
 remains of interest. The district seems to have been 
 187 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES ~ 
 
 thickly inhabited, and we notice here, for the first time, — 
 considerable traces of the regulation of the course of the 
 streams which traverse it, by artificial tunnels cut through 
 the volcanic rock. 
 
 A couple of miles to the S.W. are the remarkable ruins 
 of La Giostra—the jousting-place. A long narrow hill, the 
 shape of a stadium (whence its name), has an embank- 
 ment wall of hewn stone fairly well preserved on three 
 sides of it; and upon the top of the hill are remains of a 
 Roman villa, mostly consisting (as usual!) of reservoirs 
 (one of which is open, and is circular, some 70 feet in 
 diameter), the strength of which has caused them to resist © 
 the action of time. : 
 
 The stone walls have generally been attributed to the 
 ancient city of Tellenae, ever since Nibby first visited 
 them about a century ago. We know little of its site, but 
 it was another of the old cities of Latium. But the weak 
 point of the theory is that there is no trace of a cutting 
 or of any other defence on the S.E. (unless it has been 
 completely filled up by the villa, which seems doubtful), 
 so as to isolate the position on the most vulnerable side: 
 and this seems to me a fatal objection; for the wall 
 (which is much ruined) would have had to have been far 
 more massive and lofty than it appears to have ever been, 
 in order to be of any use. We may add that the stone 
 walls are backed into concrete, and that the blocks are 
 approximately 2 Roman feet high—though they vary 
 a good deal. 
 
 As to the supposed remains of two other early villages 
 (Apiolae and Mugillae) which have been identified a little 
 further to the E., towards Le Frattocchie, I am bound to 
 say that I feel even more sceptical. There are remains 
 in blocks of hewn stone, which may belong to the late 
 Republic or early Empire; but interesting though they 
 are, they belong too much to a study of the Campagna in 
 detail to find a place in this rapid survey. Let us hope 
 that it may be possible for the Italian authorities to test 
 these hypotheses by excavation, in the course of the 
 Archaeological Survey of Italy which is now in progress. 
 188 
 
THE VIA APPIA 
 
 We may now return to the Via Appia, which continues 
 
 in its straight course, with a few interesting tombs on each 
 
 side of it. Shortly after the site of the eleventh ancient 
 
 milestone, and close to the modern one, it is joined by 
 
 the modern highroad, which follows it right up to Albano. 
 
 The hamlet where they meet is called Le Frattocchie, 
 and here was an important road centre in ancient days. 
 
 We have first of all the so-called Via Cavona, of which 
 we have already spoken more than once. It started from 
 the Via Praenestina, and linked up the main roads which 
 it intersected. But beyond the Via Appia it is not so 
 clear, and we cannot trace a cross-road further W. than 
 Falcognana. Then to the E. of the Via Appia there is 
 -a regular network of ancient roads, which communicated 
 eventually in one way or another with Castrimoenium, 
 | which is represented more or less by the modern Marino. 
 “Its territory, too, is full of the remains of ancient villas, 
 which we cannot here attempt to describe in detail. 
 
 A little further on the road to Antium, still followed 
 by the modern highroad, diverges to the right: and in 
 the fork between it and the Via Appia we find the site 
 
 of the ancient village of Bovillae. This village must early 
 have acquired some importance as the successor of Alba 
 Longa; though much of what is related about it is purely 
 legendary, for it is situated on gently sloping ground, 
 utterly unsuitable for defence. This was doubtless chosen 
 by the Romans to prevent any possibility of its rising 
 against them—and, if so, is the first example of a principle 
 which they frequently applied, even in Britain. When 
 the Via Appia was constructed, Bovillae was the first 
 -post-station out of Rome: and it was so far that the 
 road was paved in 292 B.c. 
 
 But what we have left of it dates from the time when 
 it was given a new importance by the connexion with 
 it of the Gens Iulia, the family of Julius Caesar and 
 Augustus and the early Emperors, which was supposed 
 to have originated from Iulus, son of Aeneas, the founder 
 of Alba Longa. The family ancestor-cult was situated 
 here; and at Bovillae Augustus’s body lay for a night 
 
 189 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 on its way to Rome, and was escorted from here to the 
 city by the knights. The family worship became a 
 State worship, and was carried on by the Augustales : 
 Tiberius reconstructed the shrine, in which a statue of 
 the deified Augustus was placed, and instituted games in 
 the circus; a few of the arches of the straight end of — 
 this may still be seen among the vineyards (Fig. 28), 
 and the hollow which it occupied is quite clearly marked. 
 The municipal inscriptions refer to the inhabitants as 
 Albani Longani Bovillenses, showing the connexion 
 clearly. And Clodius’s villa, which stood above the high 
 road a little further on, in the gardens of the house now 
 occupied as a summer residence by the North Amerisaia 
 College, had, as we are expressly told, been constructed on 
 the site at the expense of the shrines and sacred groves | 
 of Alba Longa, which had been preserved when the city | 
 was destroyed. Indeed, the Vestal Virgins of Alba — 
 dwelt at Bovillae after that. Close here, too, Milo dragged — 
 Clodius from an inn in which he had taken refuge, and 
 slew him. 
 
 But except the circus there is little left. The attempt 
 to trace the city walls has been made unsuccessfully— _ 
 I doubt if there ever were any; the shrine cannot be 
 identified with any certainty (though an altar erected 
 to Jupiter Pater by the family in the days of Sulla or — 
 earlier, “‘ according to the laws of Alba,’’ was found a 
 century ago); and we are reduced to a few ruins and 
 quantities of debris among the vineyards and the ground- : 
 plan (hardly more) of a small theatre. 
 
 Above Bovillae a cross-road runs to the Anzio road on. 
 one side and up to Marino on the other, passing up through af 
 the ravine now occupied by a beautiful wood (the Parco 
 Colonna), in which some have wished to find the site of — 
 the Aqua Ferentina, the meeting-place of the Latin M 
 League, though, I think, wrongly. 
 
 The road ascends more and more rapidly between — 
 walls, and a branch (perhaps of ancient origin) ascends ~ 
 steeply to the modern village of Castel Gandolfo, which — 
 occupies a splendid position on the W. edge of the © 
 190 | 
 
THE VIA APPIA 
 
 extinct crater in the depths of which the Lake of 
 Albano lies. 
 
 The “long white town” recalls the ancient name so 
 irresistibly that one would be inclined to place Alba 
 Longa here, even were other evidences lacking: but that 
 they are not. The discovery near here of important 
 cemeteries of the Iron Age would not suffice by itself, 
 for others have been found on the N. of the lake: but 
 stronger arguments may be found in the close connexion 
 of Bovillae (which lies just below) with Alba Longa, and 
 the fact that Domitian’s great villa 4 is called invidiously 
 Ara Albana by Juvenal and Tacitus. This once splendid 
 structure lies in the lovely grounds of the Villa Barberini 
 immediately to the S. of the little town, commanding a 
 wonderful view over the sea and the Campagna on the 
 one side and the lake on the other, in which, on clear, still 
 days, the wooded cone of the Alban Mount is reflected. 
 The residential part has not yet been excavated. From 
 the garden terrace (on which are the remains of a little 
 private theatre, with remarkably well-preserved stucco 
 decorations, and also a number of nymphaea, while below 
 lies a stadium or hippodrome) a tunnel led through the 
 summit of the ridge to a road which zigzagged down to 
 the lake shore. Some earlier structures situated down 
 here were incorporated in the Imperial domain, and 
 notably two cool grottos, architecturally decorated— 
 veritable ‘‘abodes of the nymphs ’—well known to 
 artists and architects from Piranesi’s plates. He also 
 studied the famous emissarium of the Alban Lake, hewn 
 through the rock, so it was said, in 397 B.c. at the bidding 
 of the Delphic oracles, which declared that Veii could 
 only be taken when the waters of the lake reached the 
 sea. It is more probable that it was in reality intended 
 to carry the water rapidly through the porous strata, so 
 that it could not soak through the sides of the crater 
 and render the districts below marshy and waterlogged. 
 The channel is over a mile in length, about 6 feet high 
 and 4 broad, and has a sluice chamber at its egress from 
 
 1 For this and the whole district, see Lugli’s articles. 
 191 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 the lake. And here, if anywhere, we may notice Piranesi’s 
 genius for exaggeration: for the chamber would seem 
 immense, whereas in reality it is small. Sometimes, too, 
 his mind seems to run riot, as when he imagines compli- 
 cated foundations to buildings such as the mausoleum of 
 Hadrian and some of the bridges in Rome, over which, 
 as they lay below-ground, he could exercise his fantasy 
 freely: though even in such plates as those, Professor 
 Hind finds much to admire. But, except in scale, he is 
 trustworthy in details, and faithfully represented what 
 he saw; and for that his evidence has often been too 
 lightly set aside. . 
 
 At certain points round the lake shore were embank- 
 ment and landing stages for small pleasure boats—but 
 they ran by no means all round, as has hitherto been 
 generally believed: and on the S. side there was but 
 one isolated house, with a long, arcaded facade, now 
 hidden among the woods, and accessible only by water or 
 by a steep path. On the upper edge of the lake a good 
 many more Romans naturally dwelt—for the Imperial 
 domain does not seem to have extended over the whole of 
 it by any means. It does seem quite likely, however, that 
 the Roman villa which once existed on the site of Palazzola 
 (Fig. 29), on the E. of the lake below the summit of Monte 
 Cavo, belonged to the Emperor Augustus, and may have 
 passed on with other Imperial properties. It is, however, 
 more important to insist that we cannot possibly (despite 
 the testimony of Dionysius) attempt to place Alba Longa 
 here : for the position is quite indefensible on the upper 
 side of the escarpments behind Palazzola, which have 
 attracted the attention of many writers. If we examine 
 the space above them, between the lake and the moun- 
 tain, which is traversed by a number of paths, probably 
 ancient in origin, we shall find that it is utterly unsuited 
 for the site of an ancient city and does not correspond in 
 the least to Livy’s description: ‘‘It was called Longa 
 Alba because its site stretched along a ridge.” The 
 remains of the Roman villa at Palazzola are scanty, but it 
 must extend under the garden terrace of the old monastery ; 
 192 
 
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THE VIA APPIA 
 
 this has an interesting history, and is now the summer 
 residence of the English College in Rome, who were for- 
 tunate enough to secure it only a few years ago. 
 
 From Castel Gandolfo two lovely roads, fringed with 
 old ilexes, the Galleria di Sopra and the Galleria di Sotto 
 (the latter followed by the electric tram), lead to Albano. 
 If we keep to the upper one, along the crater rim, we soon 
 come to the Capuchin monastery of Albano. The old wood 
 behind it occupies a lofty hill, and one would imagine that 
 some temple had once stood there; but not a vestige of 
 antiquity is to be seen. Just below it is an amphitheatre, 
 the upper side of which is mostly cut out of the solid rock, 
 while the lower is built of arches of concrete and supported 
 on a terrace, the supporting wall of which is decorated 
 with niches. It has been computed that it might have 
 held about 16,000 people at most: and the method of 
 its construction showed that it can have had nothing to 
 do with Domitian, but must have been erected by the 
 second Parthian Legion; and indeed two of the brick- 
 stamps bear the name of this corps. It lies, too, just above 
 the camp that was erected for it by Septimius Severus, 
 who, having dissolved the Praetorian Guard, brought in 
 this legion to take its place. A number of tombstones 
 of Parthian soldiers were found in the woods between 
 Albano and Ariccia some sixty years ago. The massive 
 walls of the camp, built of blocks of hewn stone, still 
 enclose a roughly rectangular space of about 450 by 250 
 yards, which is occupied by the upper part of the town of 
 Albano, but do not extend as far as the Via Appia. The 
 -eamp is very long in proportion to its width, and the 
 closest parallel is found in the camp of Borcovicus (House- 
 steads) on “‘ Hadrian’s”’ wall. One of the side gates is 
 preserved, and also one of the corner towers: while as 
 well as the barracks, etc., belonging to the camp (of 
 which only scanty remains exist) there are some earlier 
 buildings within the enceinte, notably a round building, 
 now the church of S. Maria della Rotonda, which dates from 
 the time of Domitian and was probably an isolated nym- 
 1 See the College magazine (The Venerabile), i. 189 ; ii. 3, 182, 222. 
 
 N 1938 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 phaeum, and a huge reservoir measuring about 150 by — 
 
 100 feet, divided into five aisles by four rows of nine 
 
 pillars each; it is very finely preserved, and was till 
 
 recently used for the supply of the town. 
 
 Below the road and the camp are other ruins, of which 
 the most important are the thermae, which also belong 
 to the Severan period, and may indeed be a trifle earlier 
 than the amphitheatre: while the Villa Doria, to the 
 
 N.W., contains the remains of a large villa, which is gener- — 
 
 ally supposed to be that of Pompey. Cicero twice men- 
 tions it in such a way as to show that it lay beyond that 
 of Clodius, while it was still in the Alban territory: and 
 this is the only possible site. There are here remains of 
 a Republican villa enlarged in the time of Domitian and 
 Hadrian until it became a palatial structure, now largely 
 concealed by trees. On the other hand, the lofty tomb 
 on the other side of the highroad, called the Tomb of 
 Pompey, is of a later period, and in any case could have 
 nothing to do with him, for Plutarch tells us that his 
 family tomb was in his property: and in it he buried his 
 young wife Julia. 
 
 The foundation of the basilica of St. John the Baptist 
 by Constantine, and the donation to it of the deserted 
 barracks, was the beginning of the city of Albano (civitas 
 Albanensis), which soon became an episcopal see of con- 
 siderable importance. 
 
 The Via Appia runs straight through the town, and at 
 the end of it the old road descends steeply to the right by 
 the curious tomb wrongly attributed to Arruns, son of 
 Porsenna, or to the Horatii and Curiatii, while the modern 
 road passes over a deep ravine (in which are the lovely 
 woods of the Parco Chigi, with their variety of trees) 
 
 by a fine viaduct erected by Pius IX, and enters the upper 
 
 part of the village of Ariccia, between the Palazzo Chigi 
 
 and the circular church erected by Bernini. This is a _ 
 
 building in his more restrained style: but even more 
 successful is the little church of Castel Gandolfo, though 
 more fantastic in detail. 
 
 The modern village of Ariccia (Fig. 80) must occupy the 
 
 194 
 
THE VIA APPIA 
 
 citadel of the ancient town, most of the buildings of which 
 are in the valley below. They comprise the remains of a 
 temple, some traces of the post-station—we shall all 
 remember that Horace spent his first night out of Rome 
 here hospitio modico (in a moderate inn)—and a few 
 other indeterminate ruins. 
 
 Here the road was intersected by a cross-road, which 
 came up from the coast, one branch beginning at Ardea 
 and another at Antium, and led on up through the modern 
 village, and along the space between the Lake of Albano 
 and the Lake of Nemi, until it reached the slopes of the 
 Alban Mount. Here it begins to ascend in a long sweeping 
 curve (in the latter part of which the pavement is well 
 preserved, and has only been cleared of recent years) until 
 it reaches a bend above Rocca di Papa, where it turns 
 sharply to the right and begins to zigzag up the moun- 
 tain. It then joins the regular path (which is of modern 
 origin) from Rocca di Papa at a small chapel and ascends 
 to the summit. Here once stood the federal sanctuary 
 of Jupiter Latiaris: but the excavations of the seven- 
 teenth century show that there was little left then up 
 there, and certainly it is quite impossible to maintain 
 the charge brought against Cardinal York of having de- 
 stroyed the well-preserved remains of the temple, with its 
 columns of marble, in order to erect the now disused 
 Passionist Monastery, which is the only modern building 
 on the summit. 
 
 It is, indeed, doubtful of what nature the temple was 
 and where exactly it stood: for more recent excavations 
 have never been carried to a decisive point. But that 
 will not disturb us in our contemplation of the magni- 
 ficent panorama of Latium which unfolds itself before 
 us. We are on the highest point of the rim of the inner 
 crater, which is ringed round by wooded hills, enclosing 
 a depression popularly known as the Camp of Hannibal. 
 Outside this ring of hills is a narrow depression between 
 it and the outer ring of the original crater, which had a 
 diameter of 9 or 10 miles. 
 
 The road by which we have ascended Monte Cavo is 
 
 195 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES — 
 
 the only route by which it was accessible to wheeled — 
 traffic in ancient times; and as there was naturally a 
 regular network of roads leading to the mountain from 
 
 the various cities of Latium, they all had to approach the 
 
 mountain from the S. The cities of the N. and E. would — 
 
 have made use of the road later followed by the post 
 road to Velletri and Naples through the woods of the 
 Faiola, but not Rome itself. Had this been the intention the 
 
 Via Triumphalis would have been placed on the northern ~ 
 
 slopes of the mountain, so as to form a continuation of 
 the Via Castrimoeniensis. It is, therefore, most likely 
 that the Via Appia was followed from Rome—a fact not 
 without importance, for many a general who failed to 
 attain the honour of a triumph on the Capitol was allowed 
 to celebrate one at the temple of Jupiter Latiaris. And 
 the rock-cut tomb near Palazzola, being decorated with 
 the priest’s cap and staff, as well as the fasces, has been 
 reasonably taken to be that of Cn. Cornelius Scipio His- 
 palus, who furnishes, so far as we know, the only instance 
 of a man who, being both pontifex and consul, died during 
 his tenure of the latter office, in 176 B.c. As his illness 
 was caused by a fall on his return from the Alban Mount, 
 where he had been to celebrate the Feriae Latinae, it 
 is probable that he was buried here because at Palazzola 
 
 was situated the house at which the consuls stayed when 
 they took part in such ceremonies ; though it is rather 
 out of the line of the Via Triumphalis, it would certainly © 
 
 have been a pleasant lodging. 
 
 From the deep depression in which the post-station of — 
 Aricia lay, itself an extinct crater, the Via Appia ascended _ 
 upon an embankment (Fig. 81) which is the finest structure _ 
 of the kind to be seen in the neighbourhood of the city. — 
 It is about 200 yards long, and there is little doubt that _ 
 it is the beggar-haunted pons Aricinus of which Juvenal — 
 speaks: the steep ascent providing a favourable Oppor- — 
 tunity for members of that fraternity. On the upper — 
 
 side the hill-side ascends steeply to the modern road: but 
 
 the two routes rejoin at Genzano, a village of médiaeval / 
 origin, famous for its wine, which lies on the S.W. edge @ 
 
 196 
 
32. LAKE OF NEMI (p. 197). 
 
 To face p. 196. 
 
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THE VIA APPIA 
 
 of the Lake of Nemi (Fig. 32). The lovely little crater, 
 with the “ mirror of Diana ”’ glistening below, is best seen 
 from the garden of the Villa Sforza-Cesarini, the pines of 
 which are seen in the foreground of some of John Richard 
 Cozens’ finest water-colours. Below the garden the path 
 following the Roman branch road descends steeply to 
 the lake. Its shores are precipitous on the E., and in the 
 scanty bits of more or less level ground violets and daffodils 
 are grown for the Rome flower market. It is heavily 
 cultivated on the W. and N., where the remains of the 
 great platform on which the temple of Diana stood can 
 be seen: it is probable that there was no large monu- 
 mental building, but only a group of small chapels; or 
 else some large architectural fragments would surely by 
 now have come to light. The origin of the cult is certainly 
 an old one, for even in Imperial times the priest, usually a 
 gladiator or fugitive slave, won his priesthood by killing 
 the previous holder in fight, having previously plucked a 
 mistletoe bough (the Golden Bough of Sir James Frazer’s 
 well-known work) from the sacred grove. Off the temple 
 were anchored two great floating “‘ barges” (like the 
 College barges at Oxford), equipped with marble pave- 
 ments and lead water-pipes, and with beam-heads of bronze 
 decorated with the heads of lions and wolves, holding 
 mooring rings for small boats. They are some of the 
 finest bronzes of the kind that we have, and are in the 
 Museo delle Terme in Rome. They are generally attri- 
 buted to Tiberius, though the name on the water-pipes is 
 that of his successor, Caligula. 
 
 Above the temple lies the picturesque village of Nemi ; 
 it is dominated by a mediaeval castle with a large 
 round tower: and behind it is the mediaeval post-road 
 (following, probably, an ancient line) which was in use 
 until the time of Pius VI, and crossed the outer rim of 
 the crater by a steep ascent through the Macchia della 
 Faiola and by a still steeper descent to Velletri. A house 
 on the road still bears the name of Casale dei Corsi, from 
 the Corsican police who were responsible for the safety 
 of the road; and a hill some way off bears the grim name 
 
 197 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 of Monte degli Impiccati—another Hangman Hill—in — 
 
 allusion no doubt to the execution of brigands. 
 If we cross this road we enter the Valle Vivaro, and 
 
 after a few miles may reach the Via Latina at the pass of © 
 Algidus, passing by the Lago della Doganella—another i 
 unsuccessful candidate for identification with Lake : 
 
 Regillus. 
 
 Returning to the Via Appia at Genzano we find that | 
 
 the modern road coincides with it for about a mile; and 
 
 then the old road is left to its own devices until it reaches — 
 
 the Pomptine plain a mile below Cisterna. At the point 
 of separation the eighteenth milestone, erected by Nerva, 
 
 was found a few years ago, and has been re-erected near — 
 
 to its old site: and from here we obtain a remarkable 
 view of the flat plain and the straight line of the ancient 
 Via Appia (there once more followed by the modern road) 
 leading through it towards Terracina, which is just hidden 
 from us by a projecting hill. On the right is the great 
 limestone rock of Monte Circeo, looking like an island— 
 
 as it must have been in ancient days—and the Ponza — 
 
 group of islands are further out to sea. 
 From this milestone the old Via Appia descended 
 rapidly in a straight line, and its pavement is quite well 
 
 preserved for over a mile, until it reaches the undulating — 
 
 post-road of Papal days, which it soon crosses, after 
 passing over two torrents by massive stone single-arched 
 bridges, still well preserved. 
 
 Some ruins on the left belong to the post-station of 
 
 Sublanuvium, and this part of the road is also dominated _ 
 
 by the mediaeval castle of S. Gennaro. 
 
 After this the remains of the ancient Via Appia, clear 
 enough a century ago, have been obliterated by cultiva- — 
 tion for a while, and its line is not easy to find at first, — 
 but it can be traced with a certain amount of patience, — 
 and then is better preserved. It descends fairly fast 
 
 through undulating country. 
 
 The most interesting point is that called Solluna (perhaps } 
 the site of a post-station called Ad Sponsas, but this — 
 depends upon the identification of Tres Tabernae, the — 
 
 198 
 
THE VIA APPIA 
 
 Apostolic Three Taverns, which is, unluckily, quite un- 
 certain), where it was intersected by an ancient road 
 from Velletri towards the sea, called the Via Mactorina. 
 
 Here a number of interesting pagan inscriptions have 
 been found from time to time, several of them used up 
 later in a Christian cemetery. Further on are the remains 
 of a small aqueduct, and shortly after it crosses the 
 modern road and runs parallel with it to Cisterna, where 
 we may leave it, as to follow its course through the Pomp- 
 tine Marshes would take us too far afield. 
 
 The present road to Velletri diverges to the left from 
 the ancient Via Appia at the eighteenth milestone and 
 keeps high along the hill-side. It has no remarkable 
 features except the fine views which it commands, and 
 was only made a few years ago, when the electric tram 
 was constructed. The undulating road constructed by 
 Pius VI, to take the place of that over the Faiola, turns 
 off to the right, keeping round the lofty Monte Cagnoletti, 
 which (one would have thought) owed its name to several 
 statues of dogs which have been found among the remains 
 of one (or more) of the villas on its summit, and its southern 
 slopes, by Gavin Hamilton, were it not that the name is a 
 - good deal older. 
 
 After a mile the road diverges to the right to Civita 
 Lavinia, the ancient Lanuvium,! built on a hill which 
 projects forward into the Campagna. The acropolis of 
 this primitive Latin city occupied a vine-clad hill, on the 
 southern slopes of which are the remains, of the Imperial 
 period, of great arcades. This has generally been attributed 
 to the famous temple of Juno Sospita, from whose treasury, 
 as from that of Diana, Octavian borrowed the money 
 that he needed for the equipment of his fleet against 
 Antony. This temple, however, has not yet been found : 
 and the only sanctuary which has come to light on the 
 acropolis is one with three cellae, resembling in plan the 
 temple of Apollo at Veii; it is certainly not sufficiently 
 ornate to be identified with a sanctuary of that character, 
 
 1 For a detailed study see Colburn in American Journal of 
 Archaeology, xviii. (1914) 18, 185, 363. 
 
 199 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 and is probably the Capitolium, dedicated to Jupiter, 
 
 Juno, and Minerva. It goes back to the fourth century — 
 B.c.: but some of the architectural terra-cottas (many of — 
 
 ee 
 
 | 
 7 
 
 which are in the British Museum) go back to the fifth — 
 
 century B.c. The landed property of the temple of 
 
 Juno seems to have extended as far as the coast at Fog- 
 liano, where a tile has been found with the words Sacro 
 Lanuvio impressed upon it. 
 
 Below the acropolis was the Roman town, on the site 
 of which the picturesque mediaeval village, with its two 
 gates and towers, was built. Remains of a temple of 
 Hercules and the back of the stage wall of the theatre may 
 still be traced, some of the seats of the latter having been 
 found many years ago. From the lower end of the town 
 an ancient road ran straight down the slopes and across 
 the plain to the coast, and its pavement may still be 
 traced through that desolate region and through the 
 woods of Nettuno to Antium or Astura. 
 
 A mile to the N. are the remains of a large villa, which 
 tradition has connected with the Antonine Emperors, 
 who are known to have possessed a country house here: 
 and it is further confirmed by the discovery of portrait 
 busts of them, which are now in the Capitoline Museum. 
 
 Returning to S. Gennaro, we are some 5 or 6 miles 
 from Velletri, the ancient Volscian Velitrae. The post- 
 road which goes to the upper end of the town, rejoining 
 the new route followed by the tram a little before it, 
 may follow an ancient line: but there was certainly also 
 a short cut, with several steep ascents and descents, to 
 the lower end of it. Velletri stands on a large hill between 
 two deep valleys, and the present town, though it has 
 some 20,000 inhabitants, does not occupy the steep lower 
 slopes of the hill. Of Roman buildings there are hardly 
 any traces, except for a large building unearthed a few 
 years ago near the railway station: but a series of painted 
 terra-cottas from an early temple have recently been 
 found in the town. A large villa to the W. of the town 
 is by some authors believed to be that of the Gens Octavia, 
 the family of Augustus, though the remains so far brought 
 200 
 
THE VIA APPIA 
 
 to light belong to a later date. But the lofty fourteenth- 
 century campanile of the cathedral and a number of 
 houses of the mediaeval period are of interest : though the 
 once magnificent baroque Palazzo Ginnetti is now so 
 sadly neglected as to look out of place in its surroundings. 
 It has the merit, at least, of commanding an extraordinarily 
 fine view over the fertile vineyard-clad lowlands to the 
 limestone heights of the Volscian range in front, while 
 behind the town rise the steep edges of the outer rim of 
 the Alban crater, largely covered with woods and almost 
 without a human habitation. Only a few paths lead up 
 to the top of the ridge, and even fewer make the short, 
 abrupt descent on the other side into the high-lying Valle 
 Vivaro. And here, having made the complete circuit of 
 the Alban Hills, we may leave them and begin our study 
 of the low-lying region between them and the sea-coast, 
 by setting forth once more from Rome by the Via Ardeatina. 
 
 201 
 
III 
 
 THE ROADS LEADING TO 
 THE SEA-COAST 
 
 Vill. THE VIA ARDEATINA, 
 THE ROAD TO SATRICUM, 
 AND THE VIA LAURENTINA 
 
 1X. THE VIA OSTIENSIS (WITH THE 
 VIA CAMPANA AND THE VIA 
 PORTUENSIS) 
 
III 
 
 PRELIMINARY NOTE 
 
 Alban Hills and the sea-coast is very different 
 from those which we have so far studied. It is 
 at the present day very sparsely populated, largely owing 
 to the scourge of malaria: and this was the case even 
 in ancient times. Those who have read the Aeneid will 
 probably picture it as enjoying a prosperity which never 
 afterwards fell to its lot—mainly, I imagine, for this reason. 
 The portion of it now traversed by the new railway to 
 Naples is remarkable for its desolate loneliness, being | 
 served by no modern highroad. The neighbourhood of 
 the Via Ardeatina is one of the few districts in the Cam- 
 pagna where fox-hunting can still be enjoyed ; while 
 when we approach the coast and the large Royal park of 
 Castel Porziano we find that these extensive forests were 
 used for preserving game in Roman times, just as they 
 are at present. The tombstone of a certain Tiberius 
 Claudius Speculator, a freedman of the Emperor, records 
 that he had been the administrator of the Imperial pro- 
 perty at Formiae, Fondi, and Gaeta, and also of the Lauren- 
 tine park, where the elephants were kept: and in 1906 
 the excavations conducted by the Queen of Italy at the 
 Vicus Augustanus Laurentium led to the discovery of 
 another inscription, which records how the president of 
 the guild of gamekeepers (saltuarii) had offered to the 
 members a set of portraits of the Emperors, to be set 
 
 up in an appropriate hall in the village. 
 Of the cities so famous in the Aeneid, Ardea had come 
 down to a mere shadow of its former self: while Lavinium, 
 205 
 
 Ts DISTRICT BETWEEN THE LOWER SLOPES of the 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 in its higher and healthier situation, still enjoyed a certain 
 measure of prosperity. 
 
 The coast, on the other hand, was healthy, and the 
 nearer we come to the mouth of the Tiber, and conse- 
 quently to Ostia and to Rome, the more plentiful are the 
 remains of villas along the shore. At Ostia, the port of 
 Rome, we come into a centre of busy life and trade: but 
 even the hilly district along the Tiber valley on the left 
 bank was not very thickly populated in Roman days, 
 and on the hills of the right bank there are hardly any 
 traces of ancient habitation. 
 
 206 
 
VIilt 
 
 THE VIA ARDEATINA, THE ROAD TO SATRI- 
 CUM, AND THE VIA LAURENTINA ; 
 
 HE VIA ARDEATINA AT PRESENT diverges to the 
 right from the Via Appia at the church of Domine 
 
 Z quo vadis ?, and I think we must suppose that it 
 always did so. The name is therefore correct, even though 
 it is quite impossible to get anywhere near Ardea by it, 
 at present. It then ascended the hill and passed between 
 the catacombs of S. Calixtus and those of Domitilla, 
 which last are on the Via delle Sette Chiese, an old branch 
 road connecting the Via Ostiensis and the Via Appia, 
 and reaching the latter at San Sebastiano. This church 
 was, strictly speaking, one of the seven basilicas which 
 had to be visited during the Holy Year of Jubilee, though 
 S. Maria del Popolo was substituted for it by Sixtus V 
 owing to its distance. Our road, on the other hand, 
 leads on to the church of the Annunziatella, which made 
 the ninth pilgrimage church. It presents no particular 
 features of interest until well beyond this church, which 
 lies a little off on the right: for nothing is now to be 
 _ seen of the ancient villas in the tenuta (farm) of Tor 
 Marancia, which produced so many works of art in the 
 - excavations of 1817-23 that a large folio volume was 
 devoted to illustrating them. The most important are 
 a number of paintings depicting the mythical heroines of 
 amorous adventures of antiquity, which are in the Vatican 
 Library, while several of the mosaics now decorate the 
 floor of the Braccio Nuovo. 
 
 At the sixth kilometre from Rome the road forks, and 
 both branches are ancient: the left-hand one, which is 
 followed by the modern road to Castel di Leva and thence 
 . 207 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 to Falcognana and Frattocchie, is really the first portion 
 of the road to Satricum: while on the right hand is the 
 Via Ardeatina proper. We may first speak briefly of the 
 former, as it ran along the lower ground below the Alban 
 Hills, not far from the new railway to Naples, which keeps 
 more or less parallel to it. It therefore crosses a large 
 number of streams descending from the lower slopes of the 
 crater, but in most cases before they have had time to 
 become formidable obstacles: so that it followed a fairly 
 easy line, and no engineering works of importance were 
 required. 
 
 Remains of antiquity are comparatively few, and in 
 this regard there is a contrast to the district adjacent to 
 the Via Appia. There is really nothing worthy of parti- 
 cular notice, except for a road going off near the eighth 
 kilometre to Zolforata, until we reach Castel di Leva. 
 Here is a mediaeval castle on a hill, with the small church 
 of the Madonna del Divino Amore, celebrated for the 
 festival which takes place here on the first Sunday in May, 
 when numerous carriages decorated with flowers drive 
 out from Rome and Albano, and there is much merry- 
 making. The road is practicable for carriages as far as 
 Falcognana (there are two farmhouses of the name, one 
 on each side of the road). 
 
 Beyond this the straight road becomes a track, but — 
 there are continual traces of antiquity—pavement and 
 cuttings through the hills. It is intersected by various 
 roads leading from the Alban Hills to the coast, and 
 finally, after passing through Campomorto (which is 
 quite in the low ground, and was till lately most unhealthy), 
 reaches Satricum. The site of this ancient Latin city, 
 several times won and lost by the Romans—for it was on 
 the boundary of the Volscian territory—is to be fixed 
 on the low hill, surrounded by tufa cliffs, with scanty 
 remains of defensive walls in the same material, which is 
 now occupied by the farmhouse of Conca and was a 
 regular citadel in this flat district, once desolate and un- 
 healthy, but now fast coming under cultivation. 
 
 A mile to the W. an archaic temple, with fine terra- 
 208 
 
THE VIA ARDEATINA AND VIA LAURENTINA 
 
 cottas of the seventh or sixth century B.c. (now in the 
 Museo di Villa Giulia), was found in 1896, and is supposed 
 to be that of Mater Matuta, from a fragmentary inscription. 
 
 Tombs, remains of buildings, etc., were also found, and 
 the desolate woods were once occupied by a city which 
 was able to boast of a sanctuary decorated with the finest 
 products of Greek art. We are only 5 or 6 miles from the 
 sea-coast at Nettuno, from which the place is most easily 
 accessible, and about the same distance from Cisterna, 
 on the edge of the large Sermoneta estate. The other 
 roads leading down towards the coast do not carry us 
 nearly so far afield, and may be briefly dismissed. 
 
 We left the Via Ardeatina at the sixth kilometre. 
 From there it continues to run due S., passing E. of the 
 large farmhouse of Cecchignola, with its lofty water-tower. 
 Its course is marked by pavement, tombs, and cuttings 
 through the hills: for it cuts across numerous small 
 tributaries of the Tiber. 
 
 The modern road to Ardea (called Via Laurentina) 
 falls into it about 14 kilometres from Rome: and after 
 traversing some very desolate undulating country it 
 passes KE. of the farmhouse of Zolforata or Solfatara. 
 Close to this are sulphur springs, and here is to be sought 
 the Albunea of the seventh book of the Aenezd, to whose 
 grove King Latinus went to consult Faunus, and not 
 at Tivoli, where the water of the Anio is not sulphurous. 
 _ Here was an important road centre in old days, and the 
 branch hence to Lavinium, which is still in use, is prob- 
 ably of ancient origin. But there are two other roads from 
 Rome which lead more directly to Lavinium, further still 
 ‘to the W. 
 
 A controversy which has long vexed the souls of men 
 is in regard to the correct nomenclature of this whole 
 group of roads; but much of the difficulty disappears if 
 we are willing, as I think we must be, to accept M. Carco- 
 pino’s demonstration in a recent work (Virgile et les 
 Origines d’Ostie, Paris, 1919), that there never was any 
 such place as Laurentum (which does not appear by name 
 in the Aeneid), and that Lavinium, the home of Latinus, 
 
 fe) 209 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 is the city of the Laurentes. This city, which in Imperial 
 days bore the name of Lauro-Lavinium, as inscriptions 
 show, occupied the site of the modern Pratica di Mare, 
 which will be described below. It satisfies Vergil’s de- 
 scription of the military operations which occurred in its 
 neighbourhood, while it is the only site between Ardea 
 and Ostia which would satisfy the requirements of an 
 ancient city. 
 
 We thus get rid of the distinction between the Via 
 Lavinas or Lavinatis (a modern name for the road leading 
 to Lavinium) and the Via Laurentina, the only road of 
 which we hear in ancient authors: and we only have two 
 comparatively small difficulties to solve—the existence 
 of two roads leading to the same place. One of them 
 issued from the small gate in the Aurelian wall which 
 Antonio da San Gallo destroyed to make his bastion, 
 crossed the Almo by a separate bridge a few hundred 
 yards W. of the Via Appia, and led into the modern road 
 to Ardea, near the Torre d’Archetto, leaving it again at 
 Pizzo Prete and going on by Trigoria and Castel Romano ; 
 while the other diverged from the Via Ostiensis at Vicus 
 Alexandri, and ran on by Decimo and Capocotta. The 
 first of these is called by Lanciani! (who takes it to Tor 
 Paterno) the Via Laurentina, the second the Via Lavinatis 
 —the reason being that an inscription mentions a certain 
 Diadumenus as contractor for the Via Ardeatina and the 
 Via Laurentina, so that they must have been close together. 
 But let us take Pliny’s description of his villa?: ‘‘ There 
 is more than one way to get to it: for both the Via Ostien- 
 sis and the Via Laurentina lead there: but you must 
 turn off from the former at the eleventh mile and from 
 the latter at the fourteenth ’’; and we shall find that it 
 suits the second road and not the first. The best way 
 out of our difficulty is to suppose that, as in so many cases, 
 one road was called the Laurentina vetus and the other 
 the Laurentina nova; and, though we may not be able 
 to determine with certainty the relative date of the two, 
 we can probably say that the first road is the earlier, 
 
 1 Mon. Lincei, xiii. 183 ; xvi. 241. 2 Epist. ii. 17, 2. 
 210 
 
THE VIA ARDEATINA AND VIA LAURENTINA. 
 
 and the second, with its milestones of Tiberius and Maxen- 
 tius, the later. There is no necessity to suppose (though 
 it may have been the case) that the vetus, however, ceased 
 to be called Laurentina: and the fact that the two roads 
 are never more than a couple of miles apart until they join 
 just outside Lavinium, and are connected by three cross- 
 roads at least, renders it unnecessary to suppose that the 
 contractor who looked after the repairs of the Via Ardea- 
 tina could not have attended to both of them. 
 
 Having reached the coast-line, it will be best to de- 
 scribe it as a whole from the Tiber to Monte Circeo. Leav- 
 ing Ostia aside for the moment, we may follow the line 
 of the Via Severiana, which ran along the coast, behind 
 the almost uninterrupted line of Roman villas which faced 
 upon the sea for several miles S.E. of the Tiber mouth. 
 The coast-line has advanced considerably, and the ruins 
 of these once splendid residences lie concealed under the 
 sand, and are hidden from the sea by lofty dunes of com- 
 paratively recent formation. The whole coast-line beyond 
 Castel Fusano belongs to the King of Italy, and as game 
 is preserved in the forests, the solitude, in contrast to 
 the gay life which once prevailed here, is almost oppressive. 
 Pliny’s own Laurentine villa has not yet been excavated 
 with care, though trial pits have been made between the 
 great oaks which cover its ruins, and further excavation 
 would be necessary before it would be possible to see how 
 far the remains correspond with the elaborate description 
 which he gives of it in one of his letters. 
 
 But the remains of the village (the Vicus Augustanus 
 Laurentium) which lay next but one to it have been in 
 considerable measure cleared, and the mosaic pavement 
 which has been laid in one of the cloisters of the Museo 
 delle Terme in Rome was found here in the ruins of some 
 baths: while in another villa there was found the fine 
 replica of the famous Discobolus (or discus-thrower) of 
 the Greek sculptor Myron, which was also presented to 
 the same museum by the Queen. 
 
 Further along the larger trees disappear, and the sand 
 dunes become more apparent, while the scrub becomes 
 
 211 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 thicker. Even in Roman times the district cannot have 
 been very different from what it is now, for the Imperial 
 elephants were kept in it. We soon reach Tor Paterno, 
 a farmhouse built into the remains of a large villa, perhaps 
 also Imperial property. Here most archaeologists have 
 placed the ancient Laurentum: but personally I find 
 M. Carcopino’s demonstration that it never existed to 
 be quite convincing, and the site never seemed satis- 
 factory, to my mind, for an ancient city. 
 
 The earth brought down by the Tiber is not deposited 
 any further along the coast than this, and the ancient 
 coast-line is thus practically identical with the modern: 
 but it still continues to be low and desolate, and there 
 are very few traces of ancient buildings until we reach 
 Antium. Not long after leaving the Royal property we 
 see on the left, over 2 miles away and about 300 feet above 
 the sea, the village of Pratica di Mare. It occupies a 
 very strong site, high enough up to be healthy: it is 
 almost entirely isolated by ravines (Fig. 33), and is 
 thus eminently suited for the ancient city of Lavinium, 
 the home of Latinus, whose daughter Lavinia Aeneas 
 married. Various inscriptions of the Imperial period 
 mentioning the Lauro-Lavinates have been found here: 
 and a certain number of archaic objects point to its habi- 
 tation in earlier days, as the tradition tells us. 
 
 From Pratica we can look S.E. towards Ardea, which 
 lies less than 6 miles away—the capital of Turnus, King 
 of the Rutuli, the adversary of Aeneas. It stands on a 
 naturally strong position on an almost isolated rock 
 (Fig. 34), and its artificial fortifications consisted of a 
 massive stone wall on the N.E. (Fig. 35) where alone it is 
 connected with a long ridge running up towards the road 
 to Satricum, which is reinforced by outworks—two massive 
 mounds and ditches—at a considerable distance away from 
 the city, protecting the approach to it. The reed huts 
 of the miserable modern village may give us an idea of 
 those of antiquity. Tombs and dwellings were also cut 
 in the rocky sides of the neighbouring ravines. 
 
 The desolation of this immense expanse of country 
 212 
 
33. LAVINIUM (THE MODERN PRATICA) (p. 212). 
 
 a 
 
 34. ARDEA (p. 212). 
 
 To face p. 212. 
 
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 To face p, 213, 
 
THE VIA ARDEATINA AND VIA LAURENTINA 
 
 reaches perhaps its climax in the neighbourhood of Ardea, - 
 especially to the S. of it; but on a fine day the fresh sea 
 air and the beauty of the woods render the scene very 
 attractive ; and in many cases they are beginning to give 
 place to pasture or cultivation. 
 
 The shore grows somewhat higher as we approach 
 Antium, the modern Anzio, which we reach at the end of 
 a line of sandy cliffs. The old Volscian town, which lay — 
 a little inland, on a site defended by deep ditches, was once 
 the foe of Rome: and in one of her first naval battles 
 Rome took the beaks (rostra) from the prows of the con- 
 quered ships of Antium and used them to decorate the 
 front of the orators’ tribune on the edge of the Comitium. 
 
 In Roman days the whole shore of the bay was covered 
 with seaside residences (Fig. 86), one of which belonged 
 to Nero: and in it was found that much-discussed statue, 
 the so-called ‘‘ Fanciulla d’Anzio,”” which probably repre- 
 sents a boy-priest of Apollo. 
 
 Here, too, was a famous temple of Venus, mentioned 
 by Horace. The picturesque fishing village of Nettuno, 
 with its castle, lies in the bay, at the other side of which is 
 the lonely tower of Astura, in which Conradin of Swabia 
 was treacherously murdered in 1268. It is built on an 
 enormous Roman villa, now half submerged, with a tiny 
 harbour of its own—not, probably, that of Cicero, who 
 owned a favourite villa here, to which he withdrew after 
 the death of his daughter, Tullia. Even in Roman days 
 it was none too healthy, and both Augustus and Tiberius 
 are said to have contracted here the illnesses of which they 
 eventually died: while Ardea must have been even more 
 subject to the scourge; et nunc magnum manet Ardea 
 nomen ; sed fortuna fuit, as Vergil says. 
 
 From Astura a single sweep of low sandy coast, with 
 lagoons inland of it, runs to the foot of Monte Circeo, 
 which, as one approaches it, dominates the whole land- 
 scape. Inland is the vast expanse of the Sermoneta 
 property, mostly forest and pasture, which takes us right 
 up to the Pomptine Marshes and the Via Appia. 
 
 213 
 
IX 
 
 THE VIA OSTIENSIS, ETC. 
 
 Rome by the gate now known as Porta S. Paolo, 
 
 close to the Pyramid of Cestius and the cemetery 
 where Keats and Shelley lie. It follows the valley of 
 the Tiber for the first half of its course, then crosses a 
 chain of hills, and then descends to the low ground where 
 Ostia stands. The modern road, until recent improve- 
 ments, coincided with it closely, and considerable traces 
 of it were to be seen: while the last half was more like 
 an English lane than many of the other roads out of 
 Rome, being shaded with trees. A few of the small 
 bridges still retain traces of antiquity; but there were 
 not many ancient buildings of any particular importance 
 along its course, though the deep cuttings recently made, 
 first for the road itself, and then for the electric railway, 
 have brought a few remains to light. We may note 
 “especially the aqueduct which brought water from springs 
 in the hills to Ostia: its low arches were still fairly well 
 preserved in the sixteenth century, but have now completely 
 disappeared. 
 
 The salt marshes which surrounded Ostia itself until 
 recent days have now been drained and cultivated, and, 
 like the whole of the coast strip, this flat expanse has been 
 made habitable by the discovery of the true cause of 
 malaria. The decisive experiments were, indeed, made 
 about a quarter of a century ago at Castel Fusano, in 
 the immediate neighbourhood. 
 
 The most prominent building in our view of Ostia is 
 the fine Renaissance castle (Fig. 37) built in 1483-6 
 by Baccio Pontelli for Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, 
 214 . 
 
 Te: ROAD TO OSTIA leaves the Aurelian walls of 
 
37. CASTLE, OSTIA (p. 214). 
 
 38. PALAESTRA OF BATHS, OSTIA (p. 216). 
 
 x 
 
 To face p. 214. 
 
a 
 
THE VIA OSTIENSIS, ETC. 
 
 nephew of Sixtus IV, and afterwards himself Pope under 
 the title of Julius II. It was placed so as to command a 
 bend of the Tiber, which, however, in the great flood of 
 1557 completely changed its course, and now runs nearly 
 half a mile distant from it. Only just beyond it lies the 
 entrance to the excavations, which have made great 
 progress during the last few years and are still being 
 continued. 
 
 Ostia was the port of Rome: and what we see before 
 us are the ruins of a great commercial city. Though 
 tradition alleges that it was founded by Ancus Martius, 
 which would make it the oldest of Rome’s colonies, there 
 is no real evidence for the existence of any permanent 
 habitation on the site of Ostia before the fourth cen- 
 tury B.c. How much earlier the salt marshes at the mouth 
 of the Tiber existed is quite another question, but in 
 any case Ostia is not mentioned as a port until late in 
 the third century B.c., in the history of the second Punic 
 Wars. 
 
 The first settlement was a small rectangular fort; but 
 by the first century B.c. it had expanded very consider- 
 ably, as is shown by the line of its walls, which has recently 
 been traced. The road from Rome ran right through the 
 town and served as the main street: and, before the 
 flood of 1557, the river ran more or less parallel to it. 
 The side-streets were therefore laid out at right angles to 
 them both, especially in the northern part of the town. 
 As we come nearer to the coast, we find that the main 
 road turned to the left and approached it at right angles. 
 _ The excavations are of very great interest and impor- 
 tance, and only a brief description of them can be given 
 here.* 
 
 Of the original fort and the Republican city some 
 remains have been incorporated into later buildings: 
 and it is an interesting conjecture that Vergil’s description 
 of the castle founded by Aeneas at the mouth of the Tiber 
 was inspired by what was still visible of the remains of 
 the fort. There was apparently a reconstruction in the 
 
 1 See Calza’s Ostia, translated by R. Weeden-Cooke. 
 215 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES — 
 
 time of Augustus and Tiberius, to which, among other 
 buildings, the original theatre is due. We must place 
 rather later than this some baths with a fine mosaic 
 pavement, which were afterwards entirely razed to the 
 ground, a street being built over them; while the new 
 thermae were constructed by Hadrian and his successors 
 on an adjacent site. They are remarkable for a number 
 of fine mosaic pavements, attributable to the Antonine 
 period, in which, as is natural, marine deities and monsters 
 predominate; and also for the abnormality of their plan, 
 the palaestra (Fig. 88) taking up a considerably larger 
 part of the building than is usual in such establishments. 
 Some very interesting mosaics may also be seen in the 
 colonnades behind the theatre; they surround a temple, 
 which has been thought to be that of Ceres, the goddess 
 of the crops; for here were the offices of many of the 
 trading corporations concerned with the importation of 
 grain, which was, of course, one of the most important 
 functions of Ostia. 
 
 But the most imposing temple of all is that which has 
 generally been called the temple of Vulcan, but which 
 is now considered to be the Capitolium—the temple of 
 Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva—which was not lacking in any 
 Roman colony. It may be, like the theatre in its present 
 form, a reconstruction of the time of Septimius Severus 
 and Caracalla; for the foundations of the original Capi- 
 tolium have been recognised elsewhere. It stands on the 
 right of the main street, at the top of a lofty flight of 
 steps (Fig. 39), and faces on to the Forum, in the centre 
 of which stood the temple of Rome and Augustus, un- 
 luckily much destroyed by quarrying for building material 
 in the Middle Ages. Ostia was indeed ransacked for 
 material for the building of the cathedrals of Orvieto 
 and Pisa; and some of its buildings have suffered 
 considerably, while others have not been nearly so badly 
 treated. 
 
 But the most extensive part of the town was devoted 
 to storehouses and private dwellings. In the former the 
 store-chambers themselves are generally grouped round 
 216 
 
 ne a ee 
 
39. CAPITOLIUM AND DECUMANUS, OSTIA (p. 216) 
 
 40, RIVER NUMICUS (p. 217). 
 
 To face p. 216. 
 
\h 
 
 u 
 
THE VIA OSTIENSIS, ETC, 
 
 a courtyard, in two stories or even more ; but they display 
 considerable variety in their plan. The houses are remark- 
 able for their surprising modernity. They are not in 
 the least like the type of house with which Pompeii has 
 familiarised us; there are hardly any which have an 
 atrium: and light is generally derived from numerous 
 windows opening either on to the street or on to a 
 garden or courtyard. In the latter case the similarity to a 
 Renaissance house in Rome is surprising. Their internal 
 arrangements are equally different from what we have 
 been accustomed to: they are divided into tenements 
 which are quite independent of one another, and are 
 separately approached from below, the plan being often 
 quite identical for three or four floors. External balconies 
 are almost universal, and the warm red brickwork with 
 which the walls are faced, and which is now, especially 
 in the evening light, so pleasing to the eye, was probably 
 not faced with plaster, but left exposed to view, the tiled 
 arches being picked out in a darker red. 
 
 Outside the city the roads were flanked with tombs— 
 many of them columbaria, with niches for urns like those 
 of a dovecot—whence comes the name. Some of the 
 most interesting have been found on the Via Severiana, 
 which led to the S.E. It soon crossed a stream which may 
 very likely be the Numicus (Fig. 40), in which Aeneas 
 was drowned (though this is more generally identified 
 with the Incastro, which flows past Ardea), which forms 
 the boundary of the lovely pine forests of Castel Fusano 
 (Fig. 41). Here its pavement has been discovered in the 
 woods.. Its further course along the coast has already 
 been described. | 
 
 At Ostia there were always two difficulties to contend 
 against—the dangerous southerly winds which blew into 
 the mouth of the river, and the silting up brought about 
 by the enormous amount of solid matter brought down 
 by the Tiber—and the combination of the two proved 
 fatal to the new harbour which Claudius built on the right 
 bank of the river, 24 miles to the N. of the mouth. He 
 connected it with the open sea by a large opening with 
 
 217 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES ' 
 
 a lighthouse on a breakwater in the centre, and with the - 
 
 river by a canal. 
 
 Trajan built a large hexagonal basin between the har- 
 bour of Claudius and the sea, with which he connected — 
 his own part by a new canal, which is still called Fossa ~ 
 Traiana and serves for navigation by small craft. The — 
 new harbour, known as Portus, was, however, adminis- © 
 
 tratively dependent on Ostia until the time of Constantine, 
 
 who placed it directly under the city of Rome, and gave © 
 
 it, apparently, greater importance than Ostia. 
 
 The basin of Trajan has recently been cleared, and is 
 
 used as a reservoir for the irrigation of the land to the 
 
 N. of it: but the extensive warehouses which surrounded 
 it, and the docks which lie near it, are still half hidden ~ 
 
 under vegetation, and it is only to be hoped that they may 
 one day be excavated with care and left visible. 
 
 is ati 
 
 For here we have one of the finest examples of an i 
 
 ancient harbour in existence, which, despite the spoliation 
 
 which it has undergone, is still probably in a relatively — 
 
 good state of preservation. The harbour was defended 
 
 by a wall, the creation of which is attributed to Constantine, — 
 
 though the gateway, called the Arco di Nostra Donna, may 
 
 possibly have been erected by Trajan in the first instance © 
 
 (Fig. 42). 
 
 To the E. is an isolated building in brick—it is circular, — 
 
 and the interior is decorated with niches; the dome is 
 interesting as having radiating ribs projecting from the 
 face of the vault; while another feature is an external 
 balcony, carried on arches resting on brackets, like those 
 of Ostia. It is called the temple of Portunus, but without 
 real warrant: and probably belongs to the middle of the 
 third century 4.pD. (Fig. 43). 
 
 Claudius’s harbour, on the other hand, lies in the middle © 
 of the plain, and its outline can barely be traced, as its © 
 
 breakwaters are covered with the accumulation of earth. 
 The coast-line has advanced at least a mile and a half 
 on the N. side of the river-mouth also, though the dis- 
 tance gradually diminishes as we go up the coast. The 
 Roman shore-line can be traced clearly here also: but 
 218 
 
42. ARCO DI NOSTRA DONNA, PORTO (p. 218). 
 
 To face p. 218. 
 
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44. FLOODS NEAR PONTE GALERA (p. 219). 
 
 To face p, 219, 
 
THE VIA OSTIENSIS, ETC. 
 
 this district was far less in favour with them than the 
 _ neighbourhood of Lavinium, and there are very few villas 
 indeed for a long distance, though there are undoubted 
 _ indications of the existence of the coast road. 
 
 _ The lovely pinewoods of Maccarese (the ancient Fre- 
  genae, situated on the Arrone, the stream which issues 
 ' from the Lake of Bracciano) and a few solitary towers are 
 almost all that breaks the monotony of the flat sandy 
 shore until we reach the neighbourhood of Palo, the ancient 
 Alsium, where the Via Aurelia comes down to the coast. 
 
 A road was constructed from Rome on the right bank 
 of the Tiber, for the service of this harbour of Claudius, 
 starting from the Pons Aemilius. Not far outside the 
 Porta Portuensis of the wall of Aurelian (a double gate 
 destroyed in 1643), it diverged to the right into hilly 
 country from a far older road, the Via Campana, so called 
 because it led past the sanctuary of the Arval Brethren 
 (an old priesthood revived under the Empire, whose records, 
 inscribed on slabs of marble, are preserved to us in part) 
 to the Campus Salinarum Romanarum, the salt marshes 
 on the right bank of the Tiber, which were probably in 
 existence before those on the left bank. This last inference 
 is based on the fact that the roads which approach Rome 
 from the N. and N.E. (and especially the “‘ saltway,” the 
 Via Salaria) are making for the crossing over the river, 
 which may have existed just below the island before 
 Rome became a city at all: and this they would not 
 have done had the salt marshes of Ostia on the left bank 
 been those principally in use. 
 
 There are practically no remains of antiquity and very 
 few features of interest to be seen on either road. The 
 two rejoin at Ponte Galera, where the mouth of the Tiber 
 was situated in remote days, before it had begun to extend 
 the coast-line by the earth it brings down : and a return 
 to this early state of things sometimes occurs (as in the 
 flood of 1915) when the river bursts its dykes and over- 
 ‘flows the whole of the low country. It then becomes 
 clear that the low hills, at the foot of which the railway 
 to Pisa and Genoa runs, were once the coast-line (Fig. 44). 
 
 219 
 
IV 
 
 THE ROADS LEADING 
 INTO ETRURIA 
 
 X. THE VIA AURELIA 
 
 XI. THE VIA CLODIA AND THE 
 VLA CASSIA 
 
IV 
 
 PRELIMINARY NOTE 
 
 Veii, which later became the Via Clodia, originally 
 
 started from the Pons Sublicius and ran along the 
 right bank of the Tiber for some way, until it left the river 
 valley at the same point where it did in later days. For 
 we have unmistakable traces of a road diverging from 
 the Via Clodia on the right at the sixth mile and going 
 direct to Veii; while there are grounds for supposing 
 the existence of the Via Clodia as early as the end of the 
 fourth century 8.c., but it is difficult to suppose the exist- 
 ence of a bridge on the site of the Pons Mulvius at so early 
 a date. On the other hand, it would also be possible to 
 suppose that the original road to Veii was that which was 
 later called (for reasons that we do not know) the Via 
 Triumphalis ; and this would certainly give us a better 
 line out of Rome. The discovery near the railway station 
 of S. Onofrio, behind Monte Mario, of a Bronze Age settle- 
 ment (pre-Etruscan, of course, though it was afterwards 
 occupied by that people and the site was in use even in 
 Roman days) is, I think, a sufficient ground to modify 
 the opinion which I have previously expressed, that an 
 early date for the Via Triumphalis is improbable: though 
 what was the political or historical relation of this settle- 
 ment to Rome or to Veii we do not know. 
 
 The distances along both the Via Clodia and the Via 
 Cassia were reckoned, like those along the Via Flaminia, 
 from the Porta Ratumena of the Servian wall; while the 
 Via Cassia, though it afterwards became the more important 
 road of the two, did not, strictly speaking, begin its inde- 
 pendent existence until the eleventh mile from Rome. 
 
 223 
 
 if IS QUITE POSSIBLE that the first Roman road to 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 It must have existed in some form about 217 B.c., but 
 was probably not constructed in its permanent form as a 
 highway until about 187 B.c., and Florentia (Florence), 
 at which the road ended, was very likely founded at the 
 same time. 
 
 The other road which led from Rome into Etruscan 
 territory, the Via Aurelia, crossed the river at once and 
 led through the fortifications of the Janiculum over 
 undulating country to the coast, which it only reached at 
 about 20 miles from Rome. Its construction is attribu- 
 table to about 175 B.c. | 
 
 With the exception of Veii, which lost its importance 
 when it became subject to Rome, we may notice the almost 
 
 entire lack of centres of population in all this district : 
 otherwise the little crater lake, E. of the Lake of Bracciano, 
 
 now known as the Lago di Martignano, would not have 
 been assigned to the territory of Alsium, down on the 
 coast 20 miles away. 
 
 The hills above the right bank of the Tiber are of marine 
 formation—oyster shells, for example, may be met with 
 in quantities on Monte Mario; and the vegetation is 
 characteristic of the sea-coast. But we soon get into a 
 
 region where these strata are overlaid by volcanic rock, 
 
 the main crater being that occupied by the Lake of Brac- 
 
 ciano. This district is furrowed with ravines, and is 
 difficult to traverse with ease or rapidity. It was, there- 
 
 fore, sparsely inhabited even in Roman days: so the 
 conclusion that much of it was thickly wooded is an- 
 
 eminently probable one; for the cross-roads, though not 
 very frequent, are still out of proportion to the scanty 
 
 traces of habitation with which we meet. The desolation 
 
 of mediaeval and modern days is even greater; but the 
 
 high ground in the immediate neighbourhood of Rome, 
 
 with its fine views of the sea and the hills, has recently 
 begun to come into favour: and the transformation which 
 we have seen at work in the Campagna will probably 
 extend over this region as well in course of time. 
 
 224 
 
 ' 
 ‘ 
 
xX 
 
 THE VIA AURELIA 
 
 crossing of the Tiber to the culmination of the 
 fortified téte de pont on the heights of the Janiculum, 
 where Aurelian later on placed his Porta Aurelia, close 
 to where the American Academy in Rome now stands. 
 Leaving the entrance to the lovely Villa Doria Pamphili 
 on the left, it passes along its boundary wall, in which 
 the opus reticulatum and brick of Trajan’s aqueduct may 
 still be seen. It runs on as a narrow, shady road between 
 walls and trees for nearly 3 miles, being about the only 
 highroad out of Rome which has preserved the quiet 
 and secluded appearance which all of them had some 
 thirty or forty years ago. Several narrower lanes branch 
 off it to the right and left. One of these goes off due N. 
 to the Via Triumphalis and is followed by the aqueduct. 
 It passes close to the pinewood known as the Pigneto 
 Sacchetti, a prominent feature on the skyline to the left 
 of Monte Mario: the tops of the trees are so close together 
 that they present the appearance of a line of arches. 
 Below is the Valle dell’ Inferno, largely formed by digging 
 for brick-earth in Roman days, and still the site of many 
 brick-fields, which continually encroach on its cork woods, 
 the nearest to the city. In it lie the scanty ruins of a 
 villa designed by Pietro da Cortona for the Sacchetti 
 family in the seventeenth century, which appears to have 
 collapsed owing to the insecurity of its foundations. 
 Three miles out, the Via Aurelia Vetus is joined by the 
 Via Aurelia Nova. This probably ascended to the Janicu- 
 lum just S.E. of the Porta S. Spirito, crossed it at once, 
 and then redescended to the neighbourhood of the Porta 
 3 225 
 
 sk VIA AURELIA VETUS climbed the hill from the 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 Cavalleggieri. Thence it climbed the hill behind the 
 Vatican, and so reached the main road. 
 
 The Via Cornelia, on the other hand, upon which the 
 tomb of S. Peter lay, came from the Pons Aelius (Ponte S. 
 Angelo) along the N. side of the Circus of Caligula, so 
 that S. Peter’s is built uponitsaxis. Itthen ran on through 
 the Vatican gardens out of the Porta Pertusa of the Leonine 
 wall, and perhaps rejoined the Aurelia Nova a little further 
 on. They soon separated, however, and the Via Cor- 
 nelia turns to run westward, to the S. of the modern 
 road, passing by frequent cuttings through undulating 
 country for a few miles, and then completely disappears, 
 so that its course is quite uncertain. On the modern road ~ 
 we may note the modern chapel of S. Rufina at the eighth — 
 mile from Rome (though the site of the old episcopal © 
 see, that of Silva Candida, was half a mile away, at Porca- — 
 reccina) and the large farm of Boccea further to the N., — 
 where the road turns W. to the lonely farm of Tragliata, — 
 in the middle of a district furrowed deeply by streams ~ 
 running southward through large ravines, difficult off 
 access, and sparsely populated even in ancient times. 
 The only satisfactory way to explore it (and it will well 
 repay those who care to do so) is on foot, starting 
 from the Viterbo railway, which keeps close to the Viag 
 Clodia, and coming down to the coast railway for an~ 
 evening train. ! 
 
 The Via Aurelia crosses the streams rather lower down, - : 
 when their number has considerably diminished: but 
 even it has a good many ups and downs, attenuated to — 
 some extent by cuttings through the hills. None of its 
 paving is actually in situ, though plenty of paving-stones 
 are to be seen. | 
 
 Before the eighth modern mile we cross the stream 
 known as the Galera, one of the largest of them, at a 
 place called Malagrotta. There is a picturesque jegendl 
 of a cave inhabited by a dragon or a serpent: but the 
 prosaic truth is that the name is a corruption of Mola | 
 rupta (broken mill), which can be found as far back as 
 
 the tenth century, and was no doubt destroyed by a ious 
 226 
 
 ; 
 M4 
 j 
 E 
 4 
 
 Pe 
 ee ae 
 
 AD 
 
THE VIA AURELIA 
 
 Here a track, of ancient origin, goes off to Maccarese, which 
 may be the enigmatic Via Vitellia; though the descrip- 
 tion of it given by Suetonius “* from the Janiculum to the 
 sea ’’ does not fit any road that I have been able to find ; 
 and it is just possible that it is really the same as the 
 Via Portuensis, which is not mentioned under that name 
 until the fourth century (Suet., Vatell. 1). 
 
 The ancient Via Aurelia ascended to the N.W., and is 
 not rejoined by the modern road until the top of the hill. 
 At the twelfth ancient milestone lay the post-station of 
 Lorium, near the site of an Imperial villa, which was the 
 favourite resort of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. 
 Excavations made in 1824 led to the discovery of some 
 remains of the villa, with inscriptions and works of art. 
 A bishop seems to have had his see here in 487: but 
 the village was abandoned after the damage which it 
 suffered in the Gothic wars. 
 
 In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the place 
 had’ become so unhealthy that Eschinardi notes that a 
 carriage was always kept ready there by Prince Doria, to 
 whom the farm belonged, to carry the sick into hospital. 
 
 There are a few other ancient buildings, but the dis- 
 trict was thinly inhabited, and there is nothing of special 
 interest until we reach the two-arched bridge over the 
 Arrone, which still shows traces of antiquity. From 
 here a road may have led northward to the Via Cornelia. 
 
 Some way further on to the W. is the large and pic- 
 turesque group of farmhouses known as Torrimpietra: 
 a certain number of antique sculptures and a large number 
 of paving-stones are to be seen here, but it is doubtful 
 where they were found. 
 
 A couple of miles further on we cross another stream, 
 the Fosso di Palidoro, which has changed its course, for 
 the large farmhouse on the W. of it, which gives its name 
 both to the stream and to a station on the main line 
 (which we have now reached), is built upon an ancient 
 two-arched bridge of large blocks of limestone which has 
 been high and dry for centuries. The name Palidoro is 
 
 derived from Paritorum, which refers to a large tomb 
 . 227 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES — 
 
 faced with marble which must once have stood here and ~ 
 can be traced as far back as 1018. 3 
 
 From Palidoro a path leads northward to the ruins 
 of the large mediaeval castle called Castel Campanile, on 
 a most remarkable site—a long, narrow peninsula of rock 
 between two deep, wooded valleys. It has been identified — 
 with Artena in the territory of Caere, but I have never ~ 
 been able to see any trace of anything earlier than the ~ 
 mediaeval period, except a pagan sepulchral inscription on — 
 a block of marble, with a draped figure in a shell niche — 
 in very high relief, the provenance of which I do not ~ 
 know. 
 
 There is also an altar from the mediaeval church, ~ 
 which was dedicated, as the inscription records, in the year ~ 
 1000. Mi 
 
 About 2 miles from Palidoro is another ancient bridge, — 
 and beyond it a small mediaeval castle on a mound, © 
 which perhaps marks the site of the post-station of Ad — 
 Turres. Here a road diverged to the N.W., and led 
 straight to Caere, the modern Cerveteri (with a branch to © 
 Ceri—see below), while another led due N., rising gradually. 
 
 In a prominent position on high ground, commanding © 
 a fine view of the coast, is a large white farmhouse known ~ 
 as the Casalone; and near it are the remains of a large 
 Roman villa, showing that the site was appreciated in 
 those days. To the N. of this the modern path, which — 
 has so far followed the ancient line, divides into various — 
 branches. Here we are close to the little village of Ceri, — 
 which under the name of Caere Nova was founded about — 
 the beginning of the thirteenth century. 
 
 The Via Aurelia ran on straight for another mile, ae 
 then turned to run N.W., parallel to the coast, keeping 
 at a certain distance from it, and passing a line of mounds ~ 
 called the Monteroni, which are partly natural and partly — 
 artificial twmuli of Etruscan tombs. The modern road 
 follows what are probably old: branch roads along two 
 sides of a triangle, in order to run into the little village 
 of Palo and out again. Here there are a few villas along 
 the shore (one of them is very large, with five porticos, 
 228 
 
 Mag OY 
 
 Se ee ee 
 
THE VIA AURELIA 
 
 a large courtyard, and several gardens: it was excavated 
 in 1866, but is now covered with sand), for here was the 
 site of Alsium, one of the oldest cities of Etruria. As 
 such it was not of any importance, except as one of the 
 harbours of Caere, Pyrgi (now S. Severa) being the other ? : 
 though in Roman times, owing to the lack of other towns 
 in all this district, its territory was very extensive, while 
 Pompey and Caesar both had villas there, and it was also 
 in great favour in the second century: we hear of the 
 Younger Pliny’s friend finding here a “nest for his old 
 age”; Fronto, the tutor of Marcus Aurelius and (Ep. vi. 
 10) Lucius Verus, enjoyed here the pleasures of the sea- 
 side, and actually wrote a short work about his holidays 
 in Alsium ; and the former also owned a villa here. 
 
 The villas continue to the W. of Palo also, where the 
 modern bathing place of Ladispoli has recently grown 
 up, to replace the village of Palo, which has been allowed 
 to fall into ruin, only the fine castle of the Odescalchi 
 family remaining. Close to it are foundations, now pro- 
 jecting into the sea, which belong to a villa rather than a 
 harbour, as they have no opening seaward. 
 
 From Alsium there must have been a direct road to 
 Caere, and this is represented by the modern highroad 
 from Palo to Tre Ponti, where it rejoins the old Via 
 Aurelia, and by a track going due N. from this point 
 to ‘the town of Cerveteri. This, with its picturesque 
 mediaeval castle, occupies the site of the citadel of the 
 ancient town of Caere. We are told by ancient writers 
 that its old Pelasgian name was Agylla. It was one of 
 the twelve cities of Etruria, and the Tarquins took refuge 
 here after their expulsion. We know of its greatness and 
 power chiefly from the magnificence of its tombs: for of 
 its buildings little or nothing remains. 
 
 After the invasion of the Gauls in 390 B.c. the Vestal 
 Virgins were conveyed here for safety ; and some ancient 
 authorities derive the word “‘ ceremony” from this fact. 
 In 353 Caere took up arms against Rome, but was defeated, 
 
 1 It is interesting to notice that both these names are derived 
 from Greek words—dAc (salt) and mdpyor (towers). 
 229 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 and was therefore admitted to a limited form of Roman 
 citizenship, without any internal autonomy. Its pros- 
 perity, which had decayed considerably, was restored under 
 Augustus or Tiberius, and in its theatre a number of 
 
 inscriptions and statues of Emperors were found which — 
 may have decorated the wall of the stage. They now — 
 occupy a room in the Lateran Museum. Nothing is — 
 now to be seen of this building, and in the whole area of — 
 the city we can only trace a few remains of road pavement 
 in the modern paths through the vineyards which cover — 
 the site. The city walls in rectangular blocks of tufa — 
 can be traced along the top of the cliffs on the inner — 
 
 edge of the (artificial) fosse, by which the defences are 
 
 strengthened in places, for a length of about 4 miles, — 
 
 and there appear to have been eight gates in the circuit. 
 
 To the N.W. is the hill known as the Banditaccia, where ~ 
 
 the principal necropolis is situated—though there are also 
 
 a number of outlying tombs. The tomb chambers are — 
 either hewn in the rock or covered by large round mounds, ~ 
 and they are interesting, some for their architectural — 
 and decorative details (which are reproduced in the — 
 natural rock), others from the fine objects (vases, etc.) © 
 discovered in them; and though full details of these — 
 
 found in the recent Government excavations are not yet 
 available, a great deal that is of interest can be seen on 
 the spot. The most important tomb of all, the so-called 
 Regulini-Galassi tomb, lies to the S.W. of Cerveteri; the 
 objects found in it (a chariot, a bed, silver goblets with 
 
 reliefs, splendid gold ornaments, etc.) belong to about — 
 650 B.c., and form one of the chief treasures of the Etruscan — 
 
 as kanae of the Vatican. 
 
 From Cerveteri a road runs northward to the Via 
 
 Clodia, which it reaches a little before Bracciano, and it 
 may fittingly be taken as the boundary of our study of 
 
 this region, which, as a fact, lies well outside the limits © 
 of the Roman Campagna proper, and belongs rather to — 
 
 Southern Etruria. 
 
 230 
 
Al 
 
 THE VIA CLODIA AND THE VIA CASSIA 
 
 Flaminia at any rate, left this road immediately 
 
 after the Pons Mulvius, and ascended the hill 
 straight in front of the bridge. It soon descended again 
 into the valley of the stream known as the Acqua Traversa, 
 and then ran along it for a while. On the hill facing the 
 traveller from Rome at the fifth mile was the villa of 
 Lucius Verus, in which two busts of Marcus Aurelius 
 and four of Lucius Verus have been found. Some remains 
 of a substruction wall, once far more extensive, may still 
 be seen below the huge modern villa which has just been 
 built on the top of the hill, in the garden of which a portion 
 of the ancient villa itself, consisting of several rooms with 
 mosaic pavements, is still preserved. Beneath them is a 
 network of passages for the storage of water, running 
 right through the hill. 
 
 Not far off (though we do not know exactly where) was 
 the grove of Robigus, which was at the fifth mile of the Via 
 Clodia—a deity who, if not propitiated, Ovid tells us (Fast. 
 iv. 907), would cause rust in the corn and ruin the crop. 
 
 The pavement of the Via Clodia was found in making 
 the munition works in the valley ; behind them it ascended 
 a small gulley and reached the modern highroad (which 
 goes round the villa of Verus to the right) a few hundred 
 yards before the so-called tomb of Nero. Here the Clodia 
 itself turned N.W.; but a road has been found continuing 
 on in the same direction, which has been supposed, not 
 without good reason, to have been the original road to 
 Veii, which it reaches in another 5 miles or so. We may 
 note on it the ruins of a massive tomb in concrete, with 
 
 231 
 
 Ts VIA cLopiA, after the construction of the Via 
 
\ 
 
 THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 a cruciform chamber in the interior, lined with large 
 blocks of stone (Fig. 45), but otherwise there is nothing 
 of great importance to be noted until (after passing by 
 a well-preserved Roman fountain—a small brick-lined 
 chamber, known, I cannot say why, as the Fontana di 
 Ré Carlo) it arrives at the foot of the citadel of Veii, where 
 its pavement is still preserved in the low ground. 
 
 Considerable remains of a building belonging to a large 
 farm house have recently been found on the right of the 
 road and covered up again. 3 
 
 The so-called tomb of Nero, which has often been 
 sketched by artists of all nations, is really a huge marble 
 Sarcophagus which, as the inscription plainly shows, is 
 that of one Publius Vibius Marianus. The present name 
 does not appear before 1516, and the connexion with 
 Nero is purely arbitrary, for his real tomb was somewhere 
 on the Pincian Hill. Mediaeval legend, however, was 
 always busy with him as a monster of iniquity, whose 
 unquiet spirit wandered here and there in search of rest 
 and might well have haunted this lonely tomb. 
 
 The Via Clodia has now reached the summit of a narrow 
 ridge between two valleys, and follows it for several 
 miles. A few remains of ancient buildings may be noticed, 
 but, despite the splendid view, there is nothing of any great 
 importance, except some interesting mediaeval farmhouses 
 —one of which, La Giustiniana, is built right on the line 
 of the ancient road, which keeps on the right of the modern, 
 and passes through some cuttings in the hills. Here the 
 Via Triumphalis (followed by the now subterranean Aqua 
 Traiana and by the modern railway to Viterbo) comes in 
 to join the Via Clodia. There are no remains of interest 
 along its course, except for the Bronze Age settlement 
 already mentioned near the lunatic asylum of S. Onofrio. 
 Unfortunately the excavations did not make its nature 
 altogether clear: and the site is now covered by a group 
 of modern houses, though an Etruscan tomb cut in the 
 rock may still be seen. 
 
 Half a mile further on another branch road turns off 
 to the citadel of Veii: and just after it we see the lofty 
 232 
 
"Ez *d a0ey OF 
 
 “(bEz 
 
 d 
 
 ) 
 
 L 
 
 Vv 
 
 H 
 
 JANHO 
 
 cf 
 
 VaaTvo 
 
 ‘(c€z ‘d) VNVINZINA VIA NO aWon ‘SY 
 
x 
 
THE VIA CLODIA AND THE VIA CASSIA 
 
 mediaeval watch-tower of Spizzichino, perhaps of the 
 eleventh century, one of the oldest and _ best-preserved 
 towers in the Campagna. 
 
 A mile or more brings us to the Osteria della Storta 
 (“the inn of the crook in the road’’), the first ancient 
 post-station out of Rome, which went on through mediaeval 
 and modern days. It takes its name from the bifurcation 
 of the Via Clodia and the Via Cassia, rather less than a 
 mile further on. An inscription of A.D. 379-383 records 
 the construction of stables for the horses of the State 
 posting service, that they might no longer be worn out by 
 an excessively long stage. A chapel on the way to the 
 station records the appearance of Christ to S. Ignatius 
 Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, on his journey to 
 Rome—an account of which has recently been written by 
 a learned member of that Society, Father Fonck. 
 
 From La Storta a path runs southward, which seems to 
 follow an ancient line for a while and probably reached 
 the Via Cornelia eventually : but the country is difficult, 
 being furrowed by deep valleys. Still, it is a significant 
 fact that it lies in the same straight line as a direct path 
 to Veii, which at present shows no traces of antiquity : 
 and, as we know that the territory of Veil was very exten- 
 sive before her conquest by Rome, it may be that this 
 was one of the routes by which she reached the southern 
 part of it; and it may even have led on to the coast. Half 
 a mile further the Via Clodia goes off N.W., and then almost 
 W. The ancient road traversed a series of deep cuttings 
 which the modern road avoids; and the aqueduct soon 
 leaves it and makes off due N. It is mostly subterranean 
 or at ground-level, though some fine arches were pre- 
 served near Cesano station until the restoration by Paul V: 
 but now only a little ancient brickwork is visible at their 
 base. 
 
 The road passes through a lonely stretch of country 
 for a few miles until the Osteria Nuova (probably the 
 post-station Ad Careias, close to Careiae) is reached, 
 where it is intersected by a road going N. to Cesano 
 village, and so on to the Via Cassia, and S. to the large 
 
 233 
 
 ey 
 
a 
 THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 farmhouse of S. Maria di Galera, and perhaps further on 
 still. The modern highroad running N.W. to Anguillara 
 probably does not follow an ancient line. A mile to the 
 W. of this is one of the most picturesque spots in the whole 
 Campagna—the village of Galera. It is situated on a rock 
 almost surrounded by the deep valley of the Galera stream 
 —for here the streams from the southern slopes of the 
 extinct crater (now occupied by the Lake of Bracciano), 
 which to the N. have run in shallow beds, suddenly find 
 softer strata beneath them, and plunge abruptly over 
 waterfalls into huge ravines, which they are ever widening 
 and deepening. The lines of communication—the Via 
 Clodia, and a little later a branch of it (which may have 
 run to Caere, though after a few miles it divides into 
 several branches, which I have never been able to follow 
 out as yet)—thus kept along the ridges between the ravines 
 as far as possible, only crossing them where it was un- 
 avoidable, as the country is extremely difficult. 
 
 It probably occupies the site of the ancient Careiae— 
 about which we know very little—and it has an interesting 
 mediaeval history. There are no traces of great antiquity 
 to be seen, and indeed the village was only deserted in 
 1809, when the malaria drove the inhabitants away. The 
 picturesque desolation of its streets, half grown up with 
 vegetation, and of its crumbling buildings, makes it 
 one of the most attractive places to visit for those who 
 love the remoter parts of the neighbourhood of Rome 
 (Fig. 46). . 
 
 The Via Clodia may be reached direct in half a mile from 
 Galera by keeping along the bank of the stream. For 
 the next 3 miles it rises gradually, crossing some other 
 streams, which are here only insignificant obstacles. Atthe 
 modern post (and railway) station of Crocicchie the Via 
 Clodia is again intersected by an ancient road, almost 
 at right angles. Going south-westward, it passes, after 
 rather less than a couple of miles, the remains of a very 
 large villa, with an outer platform some 860 by 810 feet, 
 supported by a wall with low arches in front of it, upon 
 which rises the villa terrace proper. There is a large reser- 
 234 % 
 
 ee 
 ee eee 
 
THE VIA CLODIA AND THE VIA CASSIA 
 
 voir for the supply of the villa, with nine chambers, each 
 measuring 60 by 17 feet inside: and there are other 
 ‘traces of habitation in this now desolate district. If we 
 follow the road a mile or more further we shall find ourselves 
 joining the branch road from Osteria Nuova to Caere ; 
 beyond it is the Casale della Tragliatella, and near it the 
 -Fontanile delle Pertucce or Pertugie, i.e. the caves or 
 holes. It lies in a valley, which has been drained by an 
 artificial tunnel : the cliffs on its N. side are full of caves— 
 at first quarries and then habitations, for the most part, 
 though several of them are tombs—all of the Roman 
 period, including some columbaria, which presumably 
 belonged to the first century a.p. The largest tomb is the 
 so-called Grotta della Regina, with an arched entrance 
 flanked by columns, cut in the rock, and a niche for a 
 sarcophagus within. Several cuttings for ancient roads 
 descend into the valley from various directions. The 
 Grotta della Regina was quite unknown to me when I set 
 out from Crocicchie; and I had intended to make for 
 Caere westward, only altering my plans when I was told 
 of its existence at Tragliatella. The unexpected is, 
 indeed, one of the joys of exploration in the Campagna ; 
 and one must always be ready to vary one’s itinerary. 
 
 Going N.W. from Crocicchie, on the other hand, we 
 soon find pavement well preserved; and another path, 
 also ancient, soon diverges to our right, and runs east- 
 ward—probably as far as the Via Cassia at Pisciacavallo. 
 Here the main track turns due N., and passes close by the 
 remarkable ruins of S. Stefano, which attracted the atten- 
 tion of Pirro Ligorio. He planned and drew them in 
 the sixteenth century; and his representation is on the 
 whole very accurate. The main building is about 50 feet 
 square, and stands to nearly the same height. From the 
 analogy of a similar building at Hadrian’s Villa, the so- 
 called barracks of the Vigiles, it is fairly clear that it was 
 really a storehouse in three stories. 
 
 The path goes on to Anguillara ; and, though there 
 are no traces of antiquity upon it, it is almost a necessary 
 line of communication: for there are numerous other 
 
 235 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIME; 
 
 ruins in the neighbourhood. Outside Anguillara, indeed 
 there is a meeting-point of seven or eight roads, radiating 
 from it in all possible directions—all of them probably 
 of ancient origin. The little village stands on a smal 
 peninsula overlooking the lovely crater lake of Bracciano, 
 the ancient Lacus Sabatinus—a great relief to the eye 
 after the somewhat desolate district that we have traversed. 
 The name is not, as one might suppose, derived from the 
 eel-fishers, but goes back to classical times, in the form 
 Angularius, so that it comes from the situation of the 
 place in the corner of the lake, near the place where the 
 Arrone ! leaves it: though the eel has found its way into 
 the arms of the family of that name, and hence into those 
 of the Orsini, who became lords of Anguillara in 1498. 
 There was probably no village here but only a villa, of 
 which scanty but sufficient traces may be seen among the 
 modern houses. 
 
 The Aqua Traiana ran along the E. and N. banks of the 
 lake, its springs being situated at various points on the 
 N.W. side of the crater: the Acqua Paola follows its course, 
 but also receives a certain amount of water from the 
 lake itself. No ancient road can have run along this 
 EK. bank—there is barely room for the aqueduct: but 
 a path runs westward from Anguillara along the lake 
 shore, past the airship sheds of Vigna di Valle, to join the 
 Via Clodia S. of Bracciano, which has more claim to be 
 considered ancient. 
 
 Bracciano itself, with its strikingly interesting mediaeval 
 castle, does not occupy an ancient site, though it lay 
 on the line of the Via Clodia a little beyond Ad Novas, 
 where the road from Caere came up to join it; but a 
 couple of miles beyond it, the road, which had descended 
 into the lake basin, re-ascended through the woods to 
 Forum Clodii, the site of which is marked by the little 
 
 1 The name is very likely connected with the Etruscan praenomen 
 Arruns or Aruns, and the tribus Arnensis, which is associated with 
 the tribus Sabatina, probably derived its name from this river, 
 and not from the Arnus (now the Arno) further to the N. 
 
 Strabo makes a strange mistake in speaking of it as navigable, and 
 in saying that it falls into the Tiber. 
 
 236 
 
THE VIA CLODIA AND THE VIA CASSIA 
 
 chapel of S. Liberato. Here are preserved a number of 
 inscriptions, in which the people of this little posting 
 village are mentioned under the name of Foroclodienses ; 
 and it seems to have been the headquarters of a praefecture, 
 by which the neighbouring villages were administered. A 
 villa erected here in the time of Augustus by one Mettia 
 Edone not unnaturally acquired the name of Pausilypon ; 
 one may even wonder whether the owner brought the 
 name with her from her native town of Naples, for her 
 own name seems to show that she was a Greek. 
 
 Further on, in a little valley, are the modern Bagni di 
 Vicarello, with springs which were used in Roman times— 
 though whether the Aquae Apollinares are to be placed 
 here or at Stigliano, some miles to the W. of Manziana, 
 is a difficult question. There are remains of a huge villa 
 overlooking the lake under the modern Casale di Vicarello. 
 
 Further E., along the lake shore, is the little town of 
 Trevignano, which was defended by ancient walls, now 
 hidden or destroyed. The rock above the town, which 
 was probably the citadel, is now crowned by a mediaeval 
 castle. The name probably comes from an estate called 
 -Trebonianum: but what was the name of the town that 
 once stood here—whether it was Sabate, or whether this 
 name has arisen from a mistaken reading of the Itineraries 
 —is another question. From it a modern road leads to 
 Sette Vene, a post-station on the Via Cassia, to which 
 we must now return. 
 
 We left this road at the junction a little beyond La 
 Storta. A few hundred yards further on, we see a deep 
 cutting on the right, and here the modern road to the 
 village of Isola Farnese turns off, by which the site of 
 Veii can best be reached. A path soon diverges to the 
 left and falls into the line of the Formello road, which is 
 also of ancient origin. Isola Farnese, a small modern 
 village (which I will not call miserable, because almost 
 everyone who has written about Veii has already done 
 so), lies on a hill just outside the perimeter of the eity, 
 which, even so, is extremely large, exceeding in size both 
 Volaterrae and Tarquinii, while it is only slightly smaller 
 
 237 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIME: 
 
 than that of Rome as enclosed by the Servian wall. Its 
 importance in Etruscan times was very great, and it is 
 not surprising that Rome found its rivalry intolerable. 
 The position, too, is one of great natural strength, as it is 
 almost entirely surrounded by two deep ravines, traversed 
 by streams which met at its S.E. extremity, below the 
 citadel: and only on the W. is it connected with the 
 surrounding hills by a neck, now traversed by the road 
 to Formello, which has, I suspect, been artificially deepened. 
 Under this neck passes a long tunnel in which for over 
 400 yards a stream was carried by the Etruscan engineers. 
 The steep cliffs which surround the rest of the city have 
 been further defended by walls of large volcanic blocks of 
 stone. But on this vast tableland—for it is not sub- 
 divided by any considerable depression—there is hardly 
 a vestige to be seen of what was once a great city, which 
 even in Imperial times knew a, certain revival of prosperity. 
 Excavations have in recent years brought to light much 
 that is interesting, and above all, near the mill, where the 
 stream is usually crossed by a plank (unless it happens 
 to be in flood, when one must go a long way round), the 
 now famous temple with three cellae, in which was found 
 the splendid life-size statue of Apollo (to whom it was 
 probably dedicated) in painted terra-cotta, which is now 
 one of the chief ornaments of the Museo di Villa Giulia. 
 It formed part of a group representing the theft by Hermes 
 of a sacred stag: and is of the highest importance as 
 showing us how the first temple of Jupiter Capitolinus 
 must have been decorated. Here, too, was a large open 
 water-tank of the Etruscan period. . 
 Ascending hence by an ancient road to the area of the 
 city, we cross it until we reach the Ponte Sodo, on the 
 N. side. Originally it was quite a small channel for the 
 stream, about large enough for a man to walk through (and 
 this was the usual size of such tunnels), but time has con- 
 siderably enlarged it, and made it much more picturesque. 
 Above it was one of the city gates; and outside this, to 
 the N., was one of the cemeteries of the city, the only tomb 
 of which that is worth seeing is the Grotto Campana, with 
 238 
 
THE VIA CLODIA AND THE VIA CASSIA 
 
 its interesting archaic paintings of the first half of the 
 sixth century. We may return to the city a little further 
 E., past a columbarium cut in the rock, often called the 
 spezieria (or grocer’s shop), and notice on the way 
 up some small archaic houses found in 1917. From here 
 one must traverse almost the whole length of the site to 
 arrive at the narrow neck which communicates with the 
 citadel, popularly called the Piazza d’Armi. On the S. 
 of this the road from Rome ascended: and just to the 
 W. of it thousands of votive objects in terra-cotta were 
 found in 1889—heads and feet predominating, belonging 
 ‘to some temple in the neighbourhood. Excavations in 
 more recent years have brought to light remains of the 
 gate by which the citadel was defended (it was closed in 
 Roman times, when the citadel seems to have been deserted), 
 of private houses, and of a large depression lined with 
 stonework, which may have been an open water-tank. 
 The contrast between the active life of ancient times 
 and the desolation of modern days can nowhere be more 
 ‘strongly felt than here: and Dennis, in his Cities and 
 Cemeteries of Etruria, helps us to realise such an impression 
 on this and many another site that he describes in that 
 most delightful work. 
 _ he road to Formello, as we have seen, passes just to 
 “the W. of Veii, and runs due N., leaving on the left an 
 extensive cemetery in which some 1,200 tombs of various 
 periods have been brought to light. A large number of 
 them were the tombs of the ‘ Villanovan”’ people, who 
 occupied the site of Veii, and many others in Etruria, 
 ‘before the Etruscans came. Beyond this, as far as For 
 mello, the interest of the district on each side of the road 
 ‘lies mainly in the fact that it was, more than any other 
 ‘in the neighbourhood of Rome, most carefully drained, no 
 doubt for agricultural purposes. Many of the streams 
 are, wholly or partially, artificial channels hewn in the 
 rock, and this fact is accurately indicated in the repre- 
 sentation of these streams in the detailed maps of the 
 ‘Campagna. In many cases the roofs of these tunnels, 
 which were originally not of very much larger dimensions 
 
 239 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 than would enable a man to pass along them, have fallen 
 in; while in others they are still preserved for quite a 
 distance. The name Ponte Sodo (solid bridge) is thus 
 not confined to Veii itself. 
 
 The Via Cassia runs almost parallel to the Via di For- 
 mello for 3 or 4 miles N. of Veii, but ascends a good deal 
 more rapidly; on the ascent, the modern road hardly 
 ever coincides with it, but keeps slightly to the right or 
 the left. Before the ascent begins at the Osteria di Piscia- 
 cavallo a road from the Via Clodia at Crocicchie falls into 
 our road. At the top of the hill is the old Osteria della 
 Merluzza (the “smelt,’’ probably so called from an old 
 relief representing a fish), and here, too, an ancient branch 
 road came in from the W., passing below Cesano village : 
 while another joined the Via Cassia from the same direc- 
 tion a mile further on, this last being followed by a modern 
 road. There were quite a number of villas in the dis- 
 trict. The main road in Roman times passed through 
 the largest cutting I have seen in the Roman Campagna ; 
 it is 60 feet deep, 18 wide, and about a mile long, thus 
 traversing the rim of the extinct crater of Bracciano, 
 which takes its name from the Roman post-station of 
 Vacanae or Baccanae. High up on the hill to the right, 
 called Monte Lupoli, are deep shafts communicating with 
 a drainage channel far down in the bowels of the hill, 
 which discharges into the stream which since 1838 has drained 
 what would otherwise be a swamp. On the hill one 
 writer, who describes the channel and shafts with fair 
 accuracy, wishes to put the site of Veii, taking them to 
 belong to the cuniculus excavated by Camillus during 
 the siege! For the site of Veii was in dispute until the 
 forum of the Imperial period was found in the nineteenth 
 _ century—just as was that of Gabii. Baccano was indeed 
 noted for its unhealthiness; and the many travellers of 
 all nations who have passed the night at the post-station 
 at the bottom of the crater have expressed various opinions 
 as to its comfort. On the western rim of the crater is the 
 Monte S. Angelo, on the summit of which was an Etruscan 
 settlement, and to the N. of it a path leads through a 
 240 ' 
 
 ee 
 
THE VIA CLODIA AND THE VIA CASSIA 
 
 deep cutting—a “neck” which can be seen from a long 
 distance off—to the Lago di Martignano, and thence on 
 to join the various ancient roads in the neighbourhood 
 of Anguillara. Other roads placed Monte S. Angelo in 
 communication with other parts of the country. 
 
 To the right of the Via Cassia a probably ancient road, 
 
 cutting off the windings of the modern road, runs up to 
 
 Campagnano, which occupies a characteristically Etruscan 
 site, though we know nothing of any traces of antiquity 
 in the town itself. Tombs have been found in the neigh- 
 bourhood. The whole country is contorted by volcanic 
 action, and furrowed by deep ravines. The Via Cassia 
 leaves the crater on the N. by another deep cutting through 
 a hill which once again bears the grim name of Monte 
 dell’ Impiccato, or Hangman Hill. Other cuttings here- 
 abouts may belong to ancient roads, though as the soil 
 is soft one cannot always be certain. 
 
 The forest of Baccano was indeed so infested with 
 brigands that the simple expedient of burning it all down 
 was eventually adopted early in the sixteenth century. 
 
 After a sharp descent we reach a modern bridge called 
 the Ponte del Pavone, crossing a small stream, which, 
 
 however, rapidly fills after rain: in fact, the ford was so 
 
 dangerous in bad weather that Pope Gregory XIII, on 
 his return to Rome in September 1578, sent a messenger 
 on ahead to report, before he would come on himself ; 
 and we soon come to a small single-arched ancient bridge, 
 just before the large post-house of Sette Vene. Here the 
 modern road from Bracciano and Trevignano (on the line, 
 no doubt, of an ancient branch of the Via Clodia) comes 
 in: and, if we will, we may round off the area which we 
 have chosen for study by following a modern road through 
 Campagnano to the twentieth mile of the Via Flaminia. 
 The easternmost portion of it shows pavement in situ, 
 and though the western does not give us definite indica- 
 tions, we may assume the antiquity of the whole line with 
 at least a certain amount of probability, 
 
 Q 241 
 
THE ROADS LEADING TO 
 TH E NORTH 
 
V 
 
 _ PRELIMINARY NOTE 
 
 the right bank of the Tiber long before the con- 
 struction of the Via Flaminia, as far as the crossing 
 of the river into Umbria below Otricoli. This was fol- 
 lowed by the Via Tiberina, and was not as difficult a 
 
 @ Ties WAS PROBABLY a primitive route along 
 
 route as some writers have supposed. We cannot say 
 when the shorter but more hilly road running W. of 
 
 a 
 
 _ Soracte was made: but in any case it owed its establish- 
 ment as a permanent highway to Gaius Flaminius, who 
 _ built the road which has ever since borne his name in 
 _ 220 B.c. It ran from Rome to Rimini, and formed the 
 _ easiest route from Rome to Cisalpine Gaul and the fertile 
 Po valley, which had recently come under the sway of 
 - Rome. It was therefore simply a short cut (gaining about 
 _ 5 miles on the Via Tiberina), and it was, we may say, only 
 _ by accident that it passed through any part of Etruria at 
 _ all on its way to the crossing of the Tiber below Otricoli. 
 _ By the time it was built, the Etruscan city of Falerii had 
 _ already (in 241) been destroyed, and it passed a few miles 
 _ to the E. of it, crossing the Treia valley by an extremely 
 _ fine piece of engineering; while the Roman city founded 
 in its place was served, not by the Via Flaminia, but by 
 a branch of the Via Cassia which ran through Nepi and 
 on to Orte and Amelia. 
 
 The Via Flaminia must have been of considerable mili- 
 
 “ tary importance to Rome, especially during the second 
 _ Punic War; and when Augustus undertook the restora- 
 _ tion of the roads of Italy, it was for this reason that he 
 
 took charge of this road himself, and rebuilt all the 
 
 _ bridges (as he himself recorded) except the Pons Mulvius 
 
 245 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES — 
 
 and one other: and it was evidently well kept up in 
 subsequent times. ‘ 
 
 As a result it became a much-frequented road: and 
 the most striking proof of this is perhaps furnished by 
 four silver cups found at the baths of Vicarello, on the N. 
 shores of the Lake of Bracciano. _ These are each inscribed 
 with the itinerary from Gades (Cadiz) in Southern Spain 
 to Rome, with the name and distance of each post-station : 
 which proves that the land route was, in the time of Trajan 
 or not much later, preferred to the sea route across the 
 Gulf of Lions. The military importance of the road 
 comes out in the history of Vespasian’s advance on Rome, 
 and later on in Constantine’s victorious march: while 
 it played an even larger part in the Gothic and Lombard 
 wars of the fifth and sixth centuries. The road followed | 
 the old Tiber valley route for the first 9 miles, and then — 
 ran over hilly country for the next 27, returning to the — 
 river at the thirty-sixth mile. 
 
 It soon came into difficult country, and had to pursue 
 a very sinuous course: while the collapse of the bridge 
 and embankment by which it crossed the Treia valley 
 led to the complete abandonment of that whole stretch 
 of the road to the N. of Soracte. It does not touch any 
 town, either Roman or Etruscan, in this portion of its 
 course: Capena, the only one of any importance—and 
 this probably diminished in Roman times—lay 8 or 4 miles — 
 off to the right, and the other villages of the district were 
 still further off, by the Tiber, and more easily accessible 
 by the Via Tiberina or even by ferry from the road on 
 the left bank of the river. 
 
 246 
 
AIT 
 
 THE VIA FLAMINIA AND THE VIA TIBERINA 
 
 on the northern slopes of the Capitol; and the 
 tomb of Bibulus, to the left of the monument to 
 Victor Emanuel II, still stands to indicate the direction 
 of the road. After this it turned almost due N., and ran 
 for about 3 miles quite straight to the bridge by which 
 it erossed the Tiber—the ancient Pons Mulvius, now 
 the Ponte Molle. It was perhaps for this reason that 
 burial on the Via Flaminia was a privilege granted, as 
 it was to Bibulus, as a special honour to his merits at the 
 bidding of the Senate and the people. Sulla and, later 
 on, Paris, the famous actor, were among those who received 
 it. A good deal of ancient work may be seen in the bridge, 
 though it probably belongs to a restoration of 109 B.c. 
 In the old days the ascent to it was a good deal steeper 
 on each side; and this explains why Martial speaks of 
 it more than once as a haunt of beggars. 
 From the bridge the road turned sharp to the right along 
 
 Ts: VIA FLAMINIA left the Servian city by a gate 
 
 the low ground by the river, and did not leave the Tiber 
 
 valley until the post-station of Saxa Rubra or Ad Rubras, 
 which stood at the further end of the red tufa cliffs, below 
 which the road runs for 4 miles or so. In this first part 
 of its course there is very little of interest to be noted. 
 The picturesque caves in the cliffs of Grottarossa, which, 
 whatever their origin, were used for habitation until a 
 fairly recent period, are being thrown into the shade by 
 a large quarry, which long ago destroyed the front of the 
 tomb of the Nasonii, first discovered in 1674, in widening 
 
 the road for the jubilee of the following year. Some of 
 
 its paintings are in the British Museum, but a few can be 
 ‘DAT 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 faintly discerned on the spot. A few other tombs still 
 stand in the fields to the right of the highroad, and show 
 that the road must have run further out, where it would 
 have been more liable to interruption from high floods 
 than the modern road. | 
 
 We pass the valley of the Cremera, which is formed 
 by the union of the two brooks, the deep valleys of which 
 serve to isolate the site of Veii. The acropolis may be 
 reached from here in about two hours on foot. The 
 stream is associated in our minds with the story of the 
 Fabii, who may indeed have fortified themselves on the 
 knoll, now crowned by a mediaeval tower, which almost 
 seems to block the mouth of the valley. The bridge 
 over the stream is Roman, though to some extent altered. 
 Further on is a very large and prominent tomb on a cliff 
 above the road, and about a mile further on, and a little 
 less than 8 miles from Rome, we see in front of us the 
 massive supporting walls of the villa of Livia, the wife of 
 Augustus, as was shown by the discovery in it in 1867 
 of the splendid statue of the youthful Emperor, now in 
 the Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican. On the hill-top there 
 is still to be seen an underground room belonging to the 
 villa, with paintings on the walls representing a garden. 
 It commands a fine view down the valley towards Rome. 
 
 A bronze tablet was found in the Tiber in 1909, which, 
 from the inscription on it, may have been originally 
 affixed to a ferry-boat across the Tiber; for a part of the 
 villa was situated at Fidenae. 
 
 At the foot of the hill are the remains of a brick arch, 
 perhaps of the Constantinian period, which gives its modern 
 name to the hamlet.1_ The Via Flaminia ascends to the 
 left, while a road called the Via Tiberina turns off to the 
 right, and keeps along the Tiber valley. In the territory 
 between the two roads, but rather nearer to the latter, are 
 some enormous quarries, covering a very great extent of 
 ground, and appropriately known as Grotta Oscura (the 
 Dark Cave). From there was hewn the stone that served 
 for the construction of the Servian walls after the fire of 
 
 + It is known as Prima Porta (“the First Gate ”), See Fig. 47. 
 248 
 
248 
 
 7. PRIMA PORTA (Pp. 
 
 4 
 
 48. QUARRIES NEAR GROTTA OSCURA (p. 249). 
 
 6 
 + 
 N 
 ov 
 vo 
 1S) 
 Ss 
 
 Cet 
 fe) 
 
 a 
 
ae a 
 
 “THE VIA FLAMINIA AND THE VIA TIBERINA 
 
 _ the Gauls—a hard, yellowish tufa, whereas the cindery 
 
 tufa which is found in the walls of the Palatine comes 
 from Prima Porta or Fidenae, and takes its name from 
 the latter. There are various other smaller quarries in 
 
 _ the neighbourhood of Grotta Oscura (Fig. 48). The Via 
 
 - Flaminia, until a hundred years ago, and in great measure 
 
 until the construction of the electric tram line, had a 
 good many more remains of pavement to show than most 
 
 _ other roads out of Rome. 
 
 There is little of further interest until we reach the 
 
 modern farmhouse of Malborghetto (taking its name 
 from a mediaeval castle constructed round it), which is 
 
 built into a four-way arch of concrete faced with brick. 
 
 _ This belongs to the time of Constantine, and marks, as 
 -Toebelmann, a German scholar who fell at Mons, pointed 
 _ out in a work written before his death and published post- 
 
 _ humously,! the site of that Emperor’s headquarters on the 
 
 night before the battle of Saxa Rubra. By going care- 
 fully into the accounts which we have of the battle, he 
 _ showed that the only possible position which Maxentius 
 
 _ could have taken up was a little N. of Prima Porta, on 
 
 the hills and in the plain, with the river in his rear. In 
 
 doing so he made precisely the same error of neglecting 
 
 __ tosecure his retreat which caused the defeat of the Romans 
 - at the Allia seven hundred years before: and when 
 Constantine attacked the right wing on the plain with 
 _ his cavalry (which he sent by four different routes, so 
 
 RRA, 
 
 that their arrival took the enemy completely by sur- 
 prise) Maxentius’s troops (except the Praetorian Guard on 
 the left, who were cut down to a man) gave way in panic, 
 and were driven down the Via Flaminia as far as the 
 Ponte Molle, where many of them, including their leader, 
 
 were drowned in the river. 
 
 4 
 j 
 \ 
 
 Shortly after Malborghetto a road of ancient origin 
 diverges to the right to Scrofano, which lies under the 
 prominent Monte Musino, crowned by the scanty ruins 
 of a mediaeval castle, in which some have tried to see 
 remains of the Arae Mutiae, which once belonged to 
 
 1 Der Bogen von Malborghetto. 
 249 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 Veii. From Scrofano roads lead across to the Via Cassia. 
 At Malborghetto we are some 18 miles from Rome, and 
 from here the road rises, following a winding course, and 
 keeping to the watershed between valleys which grow 
 deeper and deeper as we go on. 
 
 There is nothing of note until we reach the nineteenth 
 mile, above the picturesque village of Castelnuovo di 
 Porto, which belongs to the diocese of that name. — 
 
 On the highroad is the old posting-inn (now a private 
 house) of which Browning speaks in The Ring and the 
 Book. The large kitchen chimney may still be noticed 
 from outside. From here a road leads down to the Via 
 Tiberina in the valley. A mile further on is the Madonna 
 della Guardia, taking its name from a large mediaeval. 
 castle which guarded the road, just above the tram station 
 of Morlupo. It is just 20 Roman miles from the Servian 
 walls of Rome, and probably occupies the site of the post- 
 station of Ad Vicesimum. An ancient road diverged to 
 the right here, and another within half a mile; and both 
 of them led over difficult country to the ancient Etruscan 
 city of Capena, about 3 miles away. It occupied a fine 
 site on the north rim of an extinct volcanic crater. ‘Tombs 
 have been found, dating from the beginning of the Iron 
 Age down to Roman times; and inscriptions show that 
 it was one of a group of three federated communities, 
 to which belonged most of the territory in the V between 
 the two main roads, going as far N. as the southern slopes 
 of Monte Soracte. The other two were probably Flavinium, 
 the modern Fiano, and Lucoferonia,! where was situated the — 
 famous sacred grove of the goddess Feronia, worshipped 
 more by the Sabines, it seems, than by the Etruscans. 
 Those who were possessed with her spirit walked with 
 naked feet over heaps of burning coal and ashes without 
 receiving injury. The site of the latter is alittle to 
 the N. of Nazzano, now marked by the old church of | 
 S. Antonio, on a hill above the Tiber. There is nothing 
 standing now at Capena but one solitary ruin: and, — 
 
 * The map, following De Rossi, places Lucoferonia where, I think, 
 Capena should be. 
 
 250 
 
ey OS pI 
 
 ; THE VIA FLAMINIA AND THE VIA TIBERINA 
 
 as at Veii, I cannot but commend Dennis’s delightful 
 description of the site rather than attempt it myself. “The 
 view from the height of Capena,” he says, “is wildly 
 
 _ beautiful. The deep hollow on the south with its green 
 
 carpet, the steep hills overhanging it dark with wood '—the 
 groves of Capena, be it remembered, were sung by Vergil— 
 the bare swelling ground to the north with Soracte tower- 
 ing above, the snow-capped Apennines in the eastern 
 
 horizon: the deep silence, the seclusion: the absence of 
 
 human habitations (not even a shepherd’s hut) within 
 the sphere of vision, save the distant town of Sant’ Oreste, 
 scarcely distinguishable from the grey rock on which it 
 
 stands; compose a scene of more singular desolation than 
 
 belongs to the site of any other Etruscan city in this 
 
 district of the land.”’ | 
 
 FSET PEO a EOC Re i pie i 
 
 - After the second road to Capena has left it, the Via 
 
 ‘Flaminia turns W. to follow a narrow neck between two 
 
 valleys, one running S. and the other N.; but this it 
 only does for half a mile, turning N. again where the road 
 to Campagnano goes off to the left. The country con- 
 tinues to be more and more furrowed by valleys, and, 
 beyond its natural beauties, presents no special features 
 of interest. But those who would gain an idea of it 
 should not fail to go on as far as S. Oreste and ascend 
 Soracte, which, from its isolated position, commands a 
 view of Southern Etruria and of the fertile hills of Sabina, 
 with the outliers of the Apennines behind them across 
 the Tiber valley, which no other point affords. They will 
 thus be able to survey the northern part of the territory 
 
 we have been studying, just as from Monte Gennaro and 
 _ from Monte Cavo they will be able to see the rest of it: 
 and such general views may form a fitting conclusion 
 
 to the somewhat detailed examination of the Roman 
 Campagna which I have put before my readers in the 
 foregoing pages. 
 
 1 This has now disappeared and the hill-sides are bare ; but for 
 the rest every detail still applies. 
 
 251 
 
e 
 
INDEX 
 
 _ Acqua Acetosa (via Latina), 159 
 _ Acqua Felice, 147, 155 
 
 _ Acqua Traversa, 231 
 
 _ Ad Bivium, 152, 173 
 
 _ Ad Careias, 233 
 
 -_ Ad Duos Lauros, 131, 146 
 
 _ Ad Martis, 177 
 
 Ad Novas, 236 
 
 Ad Pictas, 152 
 
 Ad Quintanas, 150, 181 
 _ Ad Rubras, 247 
 
 _ Ad Statuas, 151 
 
 Ad Turres, 227 
 
 . Ad Vicesimum, 250 
 - Aesulana, Arx, 122 
 _ Aglio, Cava d’, 172 
 
  Agylla, 229 
 
 _ Alba Longa, 29, 31, 126, 190 sqq. 
 Alban Hills, 22 sqq., 48, 50, 51, 125 
 
 sqq., 134 
 
 Alban Lake, 168, 191 sqq. 
 
 Alban Mount, 23, 195 
 
 Albano, 127, 193 sqq. 
 
 _ Albulae, Aquae, 99 sqq. 
 
  Albunea, Grove of, 209 
 
 - Aldobrandini, villa (Frascati), 164 
 
 Algidus, 23, 126, 151, 153, 172 
 
 Allia, 70 sqq. 
 
 Alsium, 229 
 
 Ambarvalia, festival of the, 29 
 
 Anagnina, Via, 160 
 
 _ Angelo, S., 117, 118 
 
 Anguillara, 235 
 
 Angusculanus, Vicus, 161 
 
 Anio, 34, 58, 61, 65, 84, 93, 96, 101, 
 
 113 sqq., 145 
 
 - Anio Novus, Aqueduct, 119, 128, 149, 
 
 155, 159 
 
 Anio Vetus, 119, 149 
 
 | Annunziatella, 207 
 
 Antemnae, 29, 30, 59, 61, 63 sq., 67 
 Antium, 189, 2138 
 
 _ Appia, Via, 19, 31, 33 sq., 40, 42, 126, 
 129, 174 sqq., 213 
 
 _ Appia Pignatelli, Via, 149, 154, 179 
 
 J &qq. 
 
 _ Aqua Alexandrina, 132, 136, 147 
 
 _ Aqua Appia, 144 
 
 Aqua Claudia, 119, 128, 149, 155 sqq. 
 
 1. Names of places outside the area of the Roman Campagna are not indexed, 
 
 2. Where a name is several times mentioned the page where it is most fully 
 discussed is indicated by the use of heavier type. 
 
 Aqua Crabra, 167 
 
 Aqua Julia, 156, 168 
 
 Aqua Marcia, 119, 143, 155 
 
 Aqua Tepula (Sorgente Preziosa), 166 
 
 Aqua Virgo, 143, 144 
 
 Aquae Albulae, 99 sqq. 
 
 Aquae Labanae, 73, 92 
 
 Arcione, Castello, 98 
 
 Arco di Nostra Donna, 218 
 
 Ardea, 28, 32, 212, 213 
 
 Ardeatina, Via, 179, 205 sqq. 
 
 Aricia, 28, 194 
 
 Arrone, 32, 219, 227, 236 
 
 Artena, 141, 173 
 
 Artena Caeritum, 228 
 
 ae Brethren, Grove of the, 29, 30, 
 19 
 
 Astura, 213 
 
 Aurelia, Via, 35, 45, 225 sqq. 
 
 Baccano, 240 
 
 Bagni, 100 
 
 Barberini, Villa (Castel Gandolfo), 191 
 
 Barberini Tomb (Palestrina), 139 
 
 Battista, Casale, 116, 117 
 
 Bernardini Tomb (Palestrina), 139 
 
 Bibulus, Tomb of, 247 
 
 Borghese, Barco (Frascati), 164 
 
 Borghese, Villa (Frascati), 148 
 
 Borghetto, Castle of, 166 
 
 Bovillae, 28, 33, 189 sq. 
 
 Bracciano, 32, 42, 236 
 
 Brutus (Villa of Tibur), (so-called), 
 120 sqq. 
 
 Buffalotta, Fossa, 70, 85 sq. 
 
 Cabum, 28 
 
 Caenina, 29, 90 
 
 Caere, 32, 35, 139, 228 sqq. 
 
 Caffarella, Valle della, 179 
 
 Cagnoletti, Monte, 199 
 
 Campagnano, 241 
 
 Campana, Via, 29 sq., 219 
 
 Campus Rediculi, 178 
 
 Capannelle, Le (below Tivoli), 133, 137 
 ad. (via Latina), 156 
 
 Capena, 32, 250 sq. 
 
 Capena, Porta, 33, 176 
 
 Capobianco, 89, 90 
 
 Cappellette, Roman Villa of the, 165 
 
 253 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 Casale Rotondo, 187 
 
 Casalone, 228 
 
 Casilina, Via, 146 
 
 Cassia, Via, 35, 281 sqq. 
 
 Cassius, Villa of (Tivoli), 120 sq. 
 
 Castel Campanile, 228 
 
 Castel Fusano, 211 
 
 Castel Gandolfo, 127, 190 
 
 Castel Giubileo, 67, 69 
 
 Castel di Leva, 208 
 
 Castel S. Pietro, 139 
 
 Castel Porziano, 205 
 
 Castellaccio, 145 
 
 Castelnuovo di Porto, 250 
 
 Castiglione, Torre di, 134 
 
 Castrimoenium (Marino), 28, 31, 126, 
 127, 154, 163, 168 
 
 Castrimoeniensis, Via, 3, 126, 176 
 
 Cavamonte, 137 
 
 Cavo, Monte, 23, 195 
 
 Cavona, Via, 133, 149, 161, 165, 189 
 
 Cecchignola, 208 
 
 Centocelle, 147 
 
 Centroni, Villa of, 159 
 
 Cervara, 144 
 
 Cervelletta, 144 
 
 Cerveteri (see Caere) 
 
 Cesano, 233 
 
 Cesareo, 8., 48, 151 
 
 Cesarina, La, 88 
 
 Cestius, Pyramid of, 214 
 
 Ciampino, Casale, 160 
 
 Cicero, Tusculan Villa of, 167, 168 
 
 Circeo, Monte, 198, 213 
 
 Clodia, Via, 29, 35, 281 sq. 
 
 Clodii, Forum, 236 ; 
 
 Clodius, Villa of (Via Appia), 190, 194 
 
 Coazzo. 87, 88 
 
 Coelius Vinicianus, Tomb of, 168 
 
 Collatia, 31, 32, 63, 67, 145 
 
 Collatina, Via, 31, 32, 131, 133, 148 sq. 
 
 Collina, Porta, 58, 60, 139 
 
 Colonna, 150 
 
 Conca (see Satricum) 
 
 Concae, 99 
 
 Corbio (Rocca Priora), 28, 172 
 
 Corcolle, 137 
 
 Corioli, 28 
 
 Cornelia, Via, 226 sqq. 
 
 Corniculani, Montes, 57, 116 
 
 Corsi, Casale dei, 197 
 
 Cremera, 30, 72, 248 
 
 Crustumerium, 30, 71, 72, 86 
 
 Cures, 77, 78 
 
 Decimo (Via Laurentina), 40, 41, 210 
 
 Ad _ JDecimum (Decimienses), (Via 
 Latina), 41, 161 
 
 Diavolo, Ponte del, 80, 81 
 
 Diavolo, Sedia del, 88, 87 
 
 Domine quo Vadis ? 178 
 
 Domitian, Alban Villa of, 191 
 
 eiry Singulares (Cemetery of the), 
 
 Eretum, 73 sqq. 
 Eurysaces, Tomb of, 128 
 
 254 
 
 Ficulea, 30, 31, 88 sqq. 
 Fidenae, 28 sqq., 59, 63, 67 sqq., 71, 
 249 sq. 
 
 Fiorano, Farm of, 187 
 
 Flaminia, Via, 34 sqq., 42 sqq., 66, 83, 
 245 sqq. 
 
 Flavinium (Fiano), 250 
 
 Formello, 239 sq. 
 
 Fortinei, 28 
 
 Fortune, Temple of, at Praeneste, 113 
 189 sqq. 
 
 Fossae Cluiliae, 28 
 
 Frascati, 127, 150, 160 sqq. 
 
 Frattocchie, le, 189 
 
 Fregenae, 219, 227 
 
 Gabii, 28, 29, 31, 44, 67, 184 8qq. 
 Gabina, Via, 31, 128 
 
 Galera, 30, 226, 234 
 Gallicano, 135, 137 
 Genazzano, 142 
 
 Gennaro, Monte, 115 
 Gennaro, S., 198 
 
 Genzano, 196 
 
 Gericomio, 121, 122, 137 
 Giostra, la, 188 
 
 Giovanni, Tor S., 86 
 Giubileo, Castel, 67, 69 
 Gordiani, Villa of the, 131 
 Grottaferrata, Abbey of, 167 
 
 Hadrian, Villa of, 103 sqq. 
 
 Helena, Mausoleum of (Torre Pigna- 
 tarra), 146 . 
 
 Hercules, Temple of (Tibur), 112 sq. 
 
 Horace, Villa of (Tibur), 114 sq. 
 
 Ilario, Catacombs of §., 152 
 Isola Farnese, 237 sq. 
 
 Janiculum, 225 
 J sey Manatee Temple of (Lanuvium), 
 
 Jupiter Latiaris, Temple of, 195 
 
 Labanae Aquae, 73, 92 
 Labicana, Via, 31, 41, 43, 126 sqq., 141 
 Labici, 28, 32, 63, 67, 128, 150 
 
 Labico, 151 
 
 Ladispoli, 229 
 
 Lanuvium, 28, 199 sq. 
 
 Latina, Porta, 153 
 
 Laurentina, Via, 32, 40, 41, 209 sqq. 
 Laurentini, 28, 32, 212 
 
 Lavinium, 28, 29, 209, 212 
 
 Livia, Villa of, 248 
 
 Lorium, 227 
 
 Lucano, Ponte, 101 sgq., 116, 137 
 Lucoferonia, 250 
 
 Lungliezza, 133, 145 
 
 Maccarese (Fregenae), 219, 227 
 Macchia della Faiola, 172 
 Mactorina, Via, 198 
 
Maecenas, Villa of (Tivoli), 111 
 
 Maggiore, Monte, 75, 76 
 Magliana, La, 49 
 Malabarba, Via (Mola Barbara), 143 
 
 ' Malagrotta, 226 
 
 Malborghetto, 249 
 
 Mandela, 25 
 
 Marcellina, 115, 116 
 
 Marciana, Villa of (Frascati), 166 
 Marcigliana, Casale, 71 
 
 Marco Simone, Casale and Laghetto 
 
 di, 88, 97 
 Maria Nuova, S. (Via Appia), 185 
 Marino, 127, 168 
 Mario, Monte, 22 
 Marius, the Younger, 139 
 
 _ Marozza, Grotta, 48, 74, 92 
 _ Marrana Mariana, 156, 168 
 - Martis, Clivus, 177 
 
 Maschio d’Ariano, 172 
 Matidia, Villa of (Frascati), 166 
 
 _ Maxentius, Circus of, 182 
 _ Mentana (see Nomentum) 
 _ Metella, Caecilia, Tomb of, 183 
 
 Micara, Torre, 162 
 Molle, Ponte (Pons Milvius, Mulvius), 
 61, 245 sq. 
 
 - Mondragone, Villa (Frascati), 149 
 
 Montalto, Villa (Frascati), 163 
 Montecelio (Monticelli), 97, 116, 117 
 
 _ Monte Compatri, 150 
 
 Monte Musino, 249 
 Monte Porzio, 165 
 
 Monte Rotondo, 73, 91 
 Morena, Casale di, 160 
 Moricone, 115 
 
 Muti, Villa (Frascati), 163 
 
  Nemi, 197 
 
 Nettuno, 213 
 
  Nomentana, Porta, 82 
 
  Nomentana, Via, 48, 57, 59, 62, 63, 65, 
 
 77, 82 sqq. 
 Nomentum, 28, 32, 91 
 Nona, Ponte di, 41, 42 
 Norba, 28, 31 
 Novus, Vicus, 76, 81 
 
 ‘Osa, stream, 133, 145 
 
 Ostia, 44, 47, 49, 214 sqq. 
 
 _ Ostiensis, Via, 36, 42, 43, 214 sqq. 
 
 Palazzola, 192 
 Palidoro, 227 
 Palombara, 87, 91, 115 sqq. 
 
  Pancratii, Tomb of the, 154 
 
 Pantano Secco, 148 
 Parco Colonna, 190 
 
 . Passerano, 137 
 
 Pastore, S., 138 
 
  Patinaria, Via, 84, 85 
 
 Pedum, 28, 32, 137 
 Pertucce, Fontana delle, 235 
 Pescara, La, 138 
 
 Pigneto Sacchetti, 225 
 Piombinara, Castle of, 148 
 Poggio Tulliano, 167 
 
 | 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Poli, 137 
 Pompey, Villa of, Albano, 194 
 Pompey, Villa of, Alsium, 229 
 Pomptine Marshes, 24, 32, 49, 129, 174 
 Ponte Amato, 138 
 Ponte §. Antonio, 137 
 Ponte Galera, 219 
 Ponte Lucano, 101 sqq., 116, 137 
 Ponte Mammolo, 96 
 Ponte Molle, 61, 245 sq. 
 Ponte Nomentano, 84 
 Ponte di Nona, 41, 42, 132 
 Ponte Sardone, 138 
 Ponte Squarciarelli, 168 
 Ponte di Terra (near Hadrian’s Villa), 
 110 
 id. (Via Praenestina), 136 
 Porta Appia, 176 
 Porta Aurelia, 225 
 Porta Capena, 153, 176 
 Porta Collina, 59, 60, 139 
 Porta Esquilina, 128 
 Porta S. Giovanni, 154 
 Porta Latina, 153 
 Porta Maggiore (Praenestina), 128, 146° 
 Porta 8. Paolo, 214 
 Porta Pertusa, 226 
 Porta S. Sebastiano, 176 
 Porta 8. Spirito, 225 
 Porta Tiburtina, 94, 143 
 Portuensis, Via, 227 
 Portus, 218 ne 
 Praeneste (Palestrina), 28, 32, 44, 113, 
 138, 139 
 Praenestina, Via, 
 4.128 sqq. 
 Prata Porei, 149 
 Pratica di Mare, 46, 210, 212 
 Prima Porta, 249 
 Primitivus, Church of S., 136 
 Pupinian tribe, 30, 148 
 Pyramid of Cestius, 214 
 Pyrgi, 229 
 
 ye 
 
 36, 41, 102, 127, 
 
 Querquetulae, 28, 137 
 
 Quintilii, Villa of the (Via Appia), 
 156 sqq., 185 
 
 Quintilii, Villa of the (Mondragone), 
 164 
 
 Quintilius Varus, Villa of (Tivoli), 114 
 
 Quintanas, Ad, 41, 150 
 
 Regillus, Lake, 148, 149 
 
 Regulini-Galassi Tomb (Caere), 230 
 
 Robigus, Grove of, 231 (see 30) 
 
 Rocca di Papa, 195 
 
 Rocca Priora, 23, 172 
 
 Roma Vecchia, 156, 186 
 
 Romulus, son of Maxentius, Heroon 
 of, 131, 151, 182 
 
 Rospigliosi, Villa, 151 
 
 Rufina, S., 226 
 
 Rufinella, Villa, 168 
 
 | Rustica, La, 144 ,g 
 Sabate, 32 Fit" G 
 
 Sacco, River,"139 : 
 255 
 
THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA IN CLASSICAL TIMES 
 
 Sacer, Mons, 84 
 
 Salomone, Monte, 171] 
 
 Salaria, Ponte, 65 sq. 
 
 Salaria, Porta, 59 
 
 Salaria, Via, 30, 36, 57, 59 sqq., 92, 115, 
 116, 219 
 
 Salone, Casale, 49, 144 
 
 Satricum, 28, 31, 126, 208 
 
 Saza Rubra, 249 
 
 Scaptia, 28, 33, 137 
 
 Schiavi, Tor de’, 131 sqq. 
 
 Scrofano, 249 
 
 Sebastiano, Church of 8. (Via Appia), 
 181 
 
 Segni, 141 
 
 eg Villa, 160 
 
 Sette Bassi, 156 sq., 186 
 
 Settecamini, 97, 98, 116 
 
 Sette Chiese, Via delle, 207 
 
 Sette Vene, 237, 241 
 
 Severiana, Via, 211, 217 
 
 Sgurgola, 25 
 
 Solfatara, 208, 209 
 
 Solluna, 198 
 
 Soracte, 250 sq. 
 
 Spada, Villa (see Fidenae) 
 
 Spizzichino, 233 
 
 Squarciarelli, Ponte degli, 108 
 
 S. Stefano, ruins, 235 
 
 8S. Stefano, Colle di, 109 
 
 S. Stephen, basilica, 154 
 
 Storta, 233 
 
 Stuart, Henry, Cardinal of York, 163 
 
 Stuart, Charles, 129 
 
 Sub-Augusta, Church of (ad duos 
 Lauros), 147, 150 
 
 Sublanuvium, 198 
 
 Tellenii, 28 (see 188) 
 
 Terracina, 175, 198 
 
 Tiberina, Via, 36, 248 
 
 Tibur (Tivoli), 28, 32, 44, 52, 58, 103, 
 110 sqq., 118 sqq. 
 
 Tiburtina, Porta, 94 sq., 143 
 
 Tiburtina, Via, 57, 87, 98 sqq., 145 
 
 Tolerini, 28 
 
 Tor Angela, 132 
 
 256 
 
 Tor Marancia, 207 
 
 Tor Paterno, 212 | 
 
 Tor de’ Schiavi, 131, 143, 156 
 
 Torlonia, Villa (Frascati), 163 
 
 Torre di Castiglione, 134 
 
 Torre Centocelle, 147 
 
 Torre Fiscale, 155 
 
 Torre di Micara, 162 
 
 Torre Nuova, 147, 148, 162 
 
 Torre Pignattarda, 146 
 
 Torre Tre Teste, 132 
 
 Torri, Grotte di, 78, 79 
 
 Torrimpietra, 227 
 
 Travicella, Vicolo della, 178 
 
 Trevignano, 237 
 
 Triopion, 180 
 
 Triumphalis, Via (Alban Mount), 196 
 
 Triumphalis, Via (Via Clodia), 225, 232 
 
 Tusculum, 28, 30, 44, 126, 128, 148 
 sqq., 167 sqq. 
 
 Tutia, 28 
 
 Urban, Tomb of S. (Via Appia), 184 
 Urbano, Church of 8S. (Triopion), 180 
 
 Valerii, Tomb of the, 154 
 Valle d’Inferno, 225 
 Valmontone, 152 _ 
 Veii, 18, 28, 30 sgqqg., 45, 71 sq., 281 
 
 8qq. 
 Velletri, 24 sq., 28, 197, 200 
 Verano, Campo, 98 
 Vermicino, Fonte, 162 
 Vicarello, 41, 237 
 Vicesimum, Ad, 250 (cf. 41) 
 Vicus Angusculanus, 161 
 Vicus Augustanus Laurentium, 211 
 Vigesimo, Valle, 41 
 Villanovans, 26, 239 
 Viminalis, Porta, 94 
 Vitellia, Via, 227 
 
 Vitriano, Colle, 116 
 Vittorino, 8., 111 
 
 Vivaro, Valle, 198 
 
 Zagarolo, 135, 137, 148 
 Zolforata, 208, 209 
 
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