HISTORICAL GUIDES CLASSICAL RONE GRANT ALLEN'S HISTORICAL GUIDES CLASSICAL ROME H. STUART JONES, M.A. FORMERLY DIRECTOR OF THE ^RITISH SCHOOL AT ROME NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY LONDON : GRANT RICHARDS, LTD. TO COUNTESS HEDWIG OF NESSELRODE-REICHENSTEIN . . . es ist alles beseelt in deinen heiligen Mauern, Ewige Roma. 241197 Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2007 witii funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.arcliive.org/details/classicalromeOOjonericli PREFACE NOT only do fresh discoveries alter the aspect of ancient sites, but the monuments in Roman museums are frequently rearranged, and new acquisitions are ex- hibited. No effort to keep abreast of such changes can be entirely successful, but this guide has been brought up to date as far as possible. The author is indebted to Dr. Ashby, Director of the British School at Rome, for information supplied while the sheets were passing through the press. For the rest, he will only take this opportunity of acknow- ledging the great debt which he, like all students of Roman antiquities, owes to the writings of Wolfgang Helbig, Christian Huelsen, and Walther Amelung. November, 1910. INTRODUCTORY NOTE IN order to keep the volumes of this guide within a size convenient to the traveller, the book has been divided into two parts — the one dealing with Classical, the other with Christian Rome. Classical Rome possesses a double interest for the modern visitor : firstly — and chiefly — on account of her unique posi- tion in history as the first and last capital of a world-empire embracing western civilisation ; secondly, as the latest home of classical art, where many of the finest works of Greek craftsmen were ultimately housed, and practically all were represented by copies, many of which are still pre- served in her museums. Some will find a greater attraction in the monuments which illustrate the history of the Roman people, from its obscure beginnings to its Imperial splen- dour, others in the art treasures of the Roman collections and the story which they tell to the trained eye ; but no one who wishes to enjoy to the full what Rome can give him should neglect either field of study. It would be impossible to arrange the monuments de- scribed in this book in strictly chronological order without much waste of space, nor would it be advisable for the traveller whose time is limited to visit them in such order. So much of the history of Rome is contained in the Forum, the Sacred Way, and the Palatine that they must claim attention first ; in the framework thus supplied other monu- ments will easily find their places. Next should come a visit to the Capitol, where, apart from the historical associa- tions of the site, the art collections of the Museo Capitolino and the Palazzo dei Conservatori furnish a conspectus of ix X INTRODUCTORY NOTE ancient art in all its periods, ending, as is fit, with that of the Roman Empire, embodied in Imperial portraits and historical reliefs. It is but a few steps from the Capitol to the region of the Imperial Fora on the one side, and on the other lies the Campus Martius. In these quarters the traveller will learn something of the transformation wrought by the Emperors in Central Rome. Climbing the Eastern heights, he will realise how the region of parks, palaces, and baths formed an outer ring about the busy quarters of the city, and in the Villa Borghese and the Museo delle Terme he will continue his study of ancient sculpture. At the east extremity of the Caelian is the Lateran, with its museum of sculpture, and crossing the Caelian into the valley by which the Appian Way issues from Rome, we come to the imposing ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, and com- plete our circuit by a visit to the Aventine and the riverside quarter. There still remains the right bank of the Tiber, with the great collections of the Vatican, which must be visited again and again. The sections of this book follow the order given above ; museums are described in their topographical surroundings. They may of course be visited at any time, and the student of ancient sculpture who has sufficient time at his disposal will arrange his programme in accordance with his predomi- nant interest ; but there are two, the Museo Kircheriano (p. 175) and the Villa di Papa Qiulio, described in the thirteenth section, which are chiefly instructive to those concerned with the origins of Rome and its place in Early Italy. They should therefore be visited early by those who desire to trace the history of the Roman people systemati- cally from primitive times. A short section on the walls of Rome is inserted at the close of the book. Both the early and the late lines of fortification are well worthy of study and most interesting to follow ; but the traveller need not, indeed should not, begin with an examination of them. No time should be lost in making the ascent of the Janiculum in order to enjoy the view of Rome described on INTRODUCTORY NOTE xi p. 4, and gain a general idea of the city and its surround- ings. Before the construction of the railway, travellers approaching Rome from the N. by carriage entered it by the Porta S. Pancrazio and at once saw it under its most impres- sive aspect ; and those who arrive by train and lose this splendid prospect should at once make good the deficiency. The view of Central Rome from the tower of the Palazzo del Senatore (p. 5) deserves an early visit. Monuments and remains of antiquity outside the walls of Rome are not described in this book, since it is intended to include them in a separate volume. \ CONTENTS PAGE vii IX XV xvii XX I 13 Preface Introductory Note Time-Table . . How TO Use these Guide-Books .... Map of Classical Rome. . . . . I. Origins and Growth of Rome II. Roman Architecture .... III. Ancient Sculpture in Roman Collections 27 IV. The Forum . . . . . V. The Sacred Way and its Monuments VI. The Palatine . . . - . VII. The Capitol VIII. The Imperial Fora .... IX. The Campus Martius .... X. The Eastern Heights .... XI. The C.^.lian and Aventine . XII. The Right Bank of the Tiber , XIII. The Villa Di Papa Giulio . XIV. The Walls of Rome .... Index 42 67 84 100 164 189 229 268 351 354 363 LIST OF PLANS Map of Classical Rome. The Forum Romanum .... The Sacred Way and its Monuments. The Palatine MusEO Capitolino, ground floor MusEO Capitolino, upper floor . Palazzo dei Conservatory first floor The Fora of the Emperors . MusEo delle Terme, ground floor . MusEO delle Terme, upper floor The Vatican Museum .... PAGE XX 43 69 87 los 109 137 153 199 211 273 TIME-TABLE OF ROMAN MUSEUMS, Etc. [These are of three classes — Papal, National, and Muni- cipal. To the first belong the collections in the Vatican and Lateran palaces ; to the second the two Museums on the Capitol, the Antiquarium, the Museo Barracco and some minor monuments ; to the third the Museo delle Terme, the Museo Kircheriano, the Villa Borghese (now Villa Umberto Primo), the Villa di Papa Giulio and the re- maining monuments and excavations. Free admission to these collections can be obtained by students recom- mended by recognised institutions under certain con- ditions. The British School of Archasology, Palazzo Odescalchi, the American School of Classical Studies, Via Vicenza 5, and the British and American Archaeological Society, Via San Nicolo da Tolentino 72, are of great service to students of antiquity]. In the followinglist M = Municipal, N = National, P = Papal. Angelo, Castle of S. (N.) 9-4, Sundays 10-2 I lira ; Sun, , free Antiquarium (M.) . 9-5 50 c. Barracco, Museo (M. ) Tues. and Fri. 10-2 free. Sun. free Borghese, Villa (N.) 10-4, Sun. lo-i I lira * Capitoline Museum (M.) . 10-4, Sun. lo-i J lira, Sun. free Colosseum (N.) 9 (Sun. 10) till sun- down 50 c. Columbarium of Pompon- ius Hylas(M.) 10 till sundown 25 c. Conservatori, Palazzo dei (M.) 10-4, Sun. lo-i I lira;* free Sun. Forum Romanum (N.) 9 (Sun. 10) till sun- down 1. lira ; Sun, .free Kircherian Museum (N.) . 10-4, Sun. lo-i I lira ; Sun free xvi TIME-TABLE Lateran Museum (P.) . Tues. and Thurs. i lira; Sat. free 10-3, Sat. 10- 1 Palatine (N.) . . . 9 (Sun. 10) till sun- i lira ; Sun. free down Papa Giulio, Villa di (N.) 10-4, Sun. lo-i i lira ; Sun. free Scipios, Tombs of (M.) . 10 till sundown 25 c. Tabularium (M.) . . ,10-4, Sun. closed i lira* Terme, Museo delle (N.) . 10-4, Sun. lo-i i lira ; Sun. free Thermae of Caracalla (N.) 9 (Sun. 10) till sun- i lira ; Sun. free down Vatican Museum and 10-3, Sat. lo-i t i lira ; Sat. free Library (P.) * Tickets (i lira) are sold at the entrance of the Capitoline Museum, and admit to the Palazzo dei Conservatori and Tabularium. t The Etruscan collection is shown on Mondays and Thursdays. Egyptian (and Galleria Lapidaria) on Tuesdays and Fridays, the Galleria dei Candelabri on Wednesdays. HOW TO USE THESE GUH3E- BOOKS 'V ^HE po?-fwns of this book i?itended to be read at ^ leisure at home, before proceeding:; to explore each to'ivn or mo?iume?it, are enclosed in brackets \thus\ The portion relating to each principal object should be quietly ?'ead and digested before a visit, and referred to again afterwards. The portion to be read on the spot is made as brief as possible, and is printed i?i large legible type., so as to be easily read in the dim light of churches, chapels, and galleries. The keynote words are printed in bold type, to catch the eye. Where objects are numbered, the nujnbers used are always those of the latest official catalogues. Baedeker's Guides are so printed that each principal portion can be detached entire from the volume. The traveller who uses Baedeker is advised to ca?'ry in his pocket one such poj-tion, referrifig to the place he is then visiting, together with the plan of the toivn, ivhile carryi?ig this book i?i his hand. Ihese guides do not profess to supply practical ififormation. See little at a time, and see it thoroughly. Never attempt to "^/ □ Arc Arch of gustus Precincf of Jufurna Modem Streets THE FORUM ROMANUM. from which the Vestals drew water for ritual use. From the northern gate of the Palatine issued the Sacred Way, which, descending the slopes of the Velia, passed between the Regia and the shrine of Vesta, and was merged in the Forum. To the early days of the Republic belong two temples, which after many restorations still present important re- mains of their former grandeur— that of Saturn at the feet of 44 THE FORUM [iv. the Capitol built in 497 B.C., and that of Castor and Pollux — the "Castores," as the Romans called the Heavenly Twins — hard by the spring of Juturna, at which they were said to have watered their milk-white steeds when they brought the news of the victory of Lake Regillus to Rome (496 B.C.). In 366 B.C. the close of the long struggle between patricians and plebeians was signalised by the erection of a temple of Concord on the slope of the Capitol overlooking the Comitium ; and the subjugation of the Latins in 338 B.C. by the Consul Gains Maenius was com- memorated not only by the adornment of the speaker's platform with the beaks of the captured ships, whence it took the name of "the Rostra," but by the erection in the Comitium of the " column of Masnius," a monument which received its counterpart in 260 B.C., when Gains Duilius, the first admiral of the Roman fleet, was allowed to set up the Columna Rostrata^ a restoration of which, together with the inscription re-engraved under the Early Empire, may be seen in the Palazzo dei Conservatori (p. 132). The Forum was by now not so much a market=place as a business centre. On either side of the piazza were rows of tabernce^ used by bankers and money-changers, and above .them were galleries, likewise ascribed to the Maenius already mentioned, from which a crowd of spectators could watch the public or private games celebrated in the Forum itself. The transformation of Rome under Greek influence which belongs to the second century B.C. (p. 9) left its mark upon the Forum. Strangely enough, it was Cato the Elder, who, in spite of his antipathy towards Greek culture, built (in 185 B.C.) the first of the basilicce^ or Public Halls, which were to become so conspicuous a feature of the Forum. The Basilica Porcia, as it was called, was at the foot of the Arx, i.e. at the N.W. corner of the Forum. In 179 B.C. the censors, M. y^^.milius Lepidus and M. Fulvius Nobilior, built a second Basilica on the N. side of the piazza, and nine years later Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus added a third on the southern side. IV.] THE FORUM 45 In 145 B.C. the meetings of the Legislative Assembly of the people {comitia tribufd) were transferred, at the instance of the tribune, C. Licinius Crassus, from the Comitium to the larger area of the Forum, and henceforward the speakers who mounted the Rostra turned their backs upon the Senate-house in order to face the multitude. Then the Forum became the scene of the fierce political strife which from the time of the Gracchi to the establish- ment of the Empire, raged without intermission. In 121 B.C., after the fall of Gaius Gracchus, the consul, L. Opimius, rebuilt the Temple of Concord, and Q. Fabius Maximus, the conqueror of the Allobroges in S. Gaul, set up a monumental archway close to the Regia, where the Sacred Way entered the Forum. Twice during the struggles of the succeeding century fire made havoc of its buildings. In 83 B.C. the Senate-house was destroyed and rebuilt by Sulla, and a few years later the Tabularium with its monumental arcade was built by Q. Lutatius Catulus. In 52 B.C., when the body of Clodius was burnt in the Comitium by the mob, the Senate-house once more perished in the flames and was rebuilt by Faustus Sulla, the son of the Dictator. To Julius Caesar we must trace the transformation by which the Forum received its present orientation and aspect. Even while campaigning in Gaul his brain conceived the plan of rebuilding the basilicas to N. and S,, trans- ferring the seat of the popular assembly to the Campus Martins and building a second Forum to connect the two. The Rostra was to be moved to the western extremity of the Forum and placed at the foot of the Capitol, and a new Senate House was to be built. These plans were only partly carried out in the Dictator's lifetime, but carried to completion by Augustus. The Basilica and Forum which bore the Julian name were dedicated, though unfinished, in 46 B.C. ; the Basilica i^milia — on the northern side of the Forum — was not dedicated until 29 B.C. Augustus rebuilt the Senate House, raised the level of the Forum throughout, and set up a temple to the deified Julius at its eastern 1 / 46 THE FORUM [iv. extremity, which faced the new Rostra, and had its facade adorned in the same manner. The temples of Saturn, Concord, and the Castores were restored under his auspices, and a triumphal arch commemorating the restoration of the standards taken by the Parthians from Crassus was erected on the Una of the Sacred Way. Later emperors added but little to the adornment of the Forum, The temple built by Tiberius in honour of Augustus was hidden by that of the Castores, and the only sanctuary added to those immediately adjoining the Forum was the temple of Vespasian and Titus, which marked the central portion of the Tabularium. Two triumphal arches were built at the foot of the Capitol — to the west that of Tiberius, of which only the foundations remain ; to the east that of Septimius Severus. In A.D. 283-4 a great conflagration once more devastated the Forum, and Diocletian thereafter finally rebuilt the Senate House in the form which, as the church of S. Adriano, still preserves. The bases of the columns, once crowned with honorary statues, which stand in front of the Basilica Julia, belong to the same period ; the column of Phocas is later by some three centuries. By this time the era of destruction had already begun.] Descending from the Capitol by the Via dell' Arco di Settimio Severo (to the east of the Palazzo del Senatore) we find ourselves opposite to the arch of Septimius Severus on the road which skirts the northern edge of the Forum. Immediately to the L. is the church of S. Giuseppe dei Falegnami (or S. Pietro in Carcere). Below this church are the remains of the Career or prison, the building of which was ascribed by the Romans to Ancus Marcius. Christian tradition recognises in it the place of confinement of SS. Peter and Paul. From the portico of the church we can see the doorway of the prison, with an inscription set up by C. Vibius Rufinus and M. Cocceius Nerva (grandfather of the Emperor Nerva), consuls under Tiberius. From the sacristy we descend by a modern staircase to a vaulted chamber built of tufa (with some blocks of travertine) ; this is the IV.] THE FORUM 47 only part of the prison now accessible. Another staircase leads to the Tullianum, at a still lower level, which was only entered in ancient times by a hole in the roof. The name means "well-house" (from ^u//us = spring), and there is in fact a spring of water in its floor. The chamber has the shape of a horseshoe, and was originally roofed with a corbelled domical vault, resembling such primitive work as the so-called "Treasury of Atreus" and other graves at Mycenae. At a later date the upper portion of this cupola was removed, and replaced by a flat roof. The Tullianum was used as a place of execution. Here Jugurtha and Vercingetorix were put to death after being led in triumph ; here, too, the Catilinarian conspirators were strangled by Cicero's orders. The flight of steps leading from the prison to the Capitol takes the place of the 5calae Gemoniae, or ** Stairway of Sighs,'* where the bodies of criminals were exposed before they were drawn with a hook to the Tiber and cast into the river. Such was the fate which befel Sejanus and not a few of the emperors. Farther to the L. are the churches of S. Martina and S. Adriano, between which the Via Bonella now runs. Until the sixteenth century they formed a single building, which included the Curia or Senate House (S. Adriano — see below, p. 51), the Secretarium Senatus (S. Martina), and the Atrium Minervae, or ' Court of Minerva,' a courtyard sur- rounded by porticos, which took its name from a chapel dedicated to Minerva by Domitian. Turning to the R. we pass in front of the Tabularium, or Public Record Office, built by Q. Lutatius Catulus, the Consul of 78 B.C., and leader- of the Conservative or "Optimate" party. It is easy to distinguish the original building with its massive wall of sperone — the finest example of Republican building — from the upper stories partly of mediaeval construction, partly the work of Michel Angelo, which transformed it into the " Palazzo del Senatore." All the bays of the arcade which overlooked the Forum have been blocked save one, which is worthy of attention as illustrating the economy in the use of travertine practised 48 THE FORUM [iv. by Roman builders under the Republic. The columns are oi sperone^ the capitals and architraves of the more precious material. The Tabularium is entered from the Capitol, and the interior is described on p. 149 f. Between the Tabularium and the modern road we see first the concrete foundations of the Temple of Concord, built by M. Furius Camillus in 366 B.C., on the conclusion of the struggle between the orders and the admission of plebeians to the consulship, restored by L. Opimius in 121 B.C., and again rebuilt by Tiberius in the reign of Augustus (a.d. 7-10). A still later restoration was commemorated by an inscription now lost. As rebuilt by Tiberius, the temple was oblong in form, the breadth being almost double of the depth ; in the middle of the front was a portico approached by a flight of steps. Tiberius filled the temple with master- pieces of Greek sculpture and painting. Its walls and pavement were decorated with costly marbles, some remains of which were found in 18 17. The threshold, which is still preserved, was formed by enormous blocks of portasanta. A piece of the cornice may be seen in the Tabul- arium. Some of the richly ornamental column-bases are in the Museo Capitolino, and two capitals in the Palazzo dei Conservatori. Next to the temple of Concord was that of Vespasian and Titus, erected in a.d. 80. The base upon which the statues of the deified emperors stood may be seen at the back of the building. The three columns still standing, as well as the richly decorated frieze (adorned with bucrania and sacrificial instruments) and cornice, doubtless belong to the original temple, though the inscription partly preserved on the entablature and copied when still complete by a mediaeval traveller records that the temple was restored by Septimius Severus and Caracalla. In the angle formed by the Tabularium and the ascent to the Capitol, on the line of the ancient Clivus Capitolinus, is a portico of cipoUino columns (those of travertine are the work of a modern restorer) with figured capitals represent- ing trophies. A series of small chambers open on the IV.] THE FORUM 49 colonnade. These were, no doubt, the shrines of the twelve Olympian gods, for the building is identified by an in- scription on the architrave as the Porticus Deoruin Consen- tiiim^ or colonnade of the assembled gods, whose statues of gilded bronze are mentioned by Varro. The building was restored in the fourth century A.D. by Vettius Agorius Prastextatus, one of the latest champions of expiring pagan- ism. Beneath it are seven chambers {tabernae) opening on to the narrow passage between the portico and the temple of Vespasian. Close to the W. end of the passage is a doorway in the ground floor of the Tabularium which was blocked up by the building of the temple. Notice the use of travertine for the flat arch which takes the place of a Imtel. On the opposite side of the road is the lofty substructure of the Temple of Saturn. The eight columns of red and grey granite still standing belong to a late restoration, as the inscription on the architrave records. The work was carelessly done : the bases of the columns are irregular in size, and one of the columns (no doubt taken from some other building) is inverted. The temple was originally built in 498 B.C., and restored in 42 B.C. by L. Munatius Plancus, to whose building the high podium of travertine seems to belong. In its vaults was housed the public treasury of Rome, or aerarium Saiurni. This was rifled by Caesar at the commencement of the Civil War, and found to contain 15,000 gold and 30,000 silver ingots and 30,000,000 sesterces (;{^3oo,ooo) of coined money. Turning to the L. we soon reach the entrance to the excavations, and descending the slope enter the Basilica Julia, begun by Juhus Caesar and completed by Augustus, who was forced to rebuild it after a fire, and dedicated the restored structure in A.D. 12 to the memory of his grandsons, Gaius and Lucius Csesar. It was again restored by Diocletian after the great fire of A.D. 283-4. The rows of dwarf brick piers, which have been set up in modern times, indicate clearly enough the ground plan of the build- ing. It had a long central hall, measuring 82 by 18 so THE FORUM [iv. metres, surrounded by a corridor and galleries opening on to the nave by a two-storeyed arcade, and lit by a clerestory. To the S. there was an outer corridor bordered by a row of chambers {tabernae) used by money- changers ; on the N. the Basilica was approached from the Forum by a flight of steps and a portico with an arcade of two storeys. One of the lower piers has been restored in travertine, with an engaged half-column, in recent times. The aisles and galleries were vaulted and decorated in stucco ; some fragments of this are preserved at the S.W. corner, where the ancient piers have been reinforced with modern brickwork. The nave was paved with coloured marbles — giallo -antico^ affricano and pavonazzetto— of which some fragmentary slabs remain ; the aisles had a pavement of white marble, upon which were scratched boards for games {tabulae liisoriae) with inscriptions, such as vinces gaudes perdes plangis^ " the winner's joy the loser's tears," and the like. Close to the restored pier of the portico will be seen two pedestals bearing the name of Gabinius Vettius Probianus, city-prefect, iji A.D. 416, who repaired the damage done to the Basilica by the Goths under Alaric, and beside it upon them rest the bases of statues described as " the work of Polyclitus" and "the work of Timarchus." As to such inscriptions compare what is said on p. 196 about the Dioscuri of Monte Cavallo. The Basilica Julia served not only as an exchange and a promenade for loungers, but also as a law court, where the centumviri^ a jury of one hundred, usually divided into four panels for the trial of civil causes, held its sittings. Pliny the Younger mentions a cause celebre in which he pleaded before a plenary session of the four panels, at which not only the nave of the Basilica, but also the galleries, were crowded with spectators. In the Middle Ages the ruins of the Basilica were used as a rope-walk, and a small church built at the western end was called S. Maria in Cannapara (" in the rope-walk '') ; some remains of this church may be seen. IV.] THE FORUM 51 At either end of the Basilica we can trace the ancient streets by which the Forum was approached from the S.W. — to the W. the Vicus Jugarius or "street of the yoke- makers," which followed the line of the modern Via della Consolazione at the foot of the Capitol, to the E. the Vicus Tuscus or " street of the Etruscans ; '' this latter passed between the Basilica Julia and the temple of Castor and Pollux, and continued beneath the slope of the Palatine to the cattle-market. Along the front of the Basilica runs the Sacred Way, paved with polygonal blocks of lava. Excavations in the centre of the road have brought to light a series of rectangular pits lined with slabs of tufa. The bottom of these was left open, but the top was closed with a lid. Such pits have also been found in front of the Rostra, and in the line whose centre is occupied by the temple of Julius Caesar ; others, again, of earlier date and with a different orienta- tion in the Comitium. Comm. Boni beheves that they are "augural pits," into which offerings were cast when the lines of the Comitium and Forum were marked out, so that those which we see in front of the Basilica Julia mark the complete change in orientation due to the execution of the Dictator's plan (p. 45). The seven unsightly brick foundations which stand on the edge of the Sacred Way were originally faced with marble and crowned with columns, two of which — one of pavo7iazzetto^ the other of grey granite — were re-erected in 1899. They date from the time of Diocletian, and no doubt supported honorary statues. Passing the westernmost of these we cross, the Forum, proceed directly to its N.W. corner, and approach the Comitium, originally the meet- ing place of all assemblies of the Roman people, but in later times only used for those of the thirty lictors who repre- sented the Coiniiia curiata^ which transacted certain formal business and passed Private Acts, such as adoptions. The church of S. Adriano, which overlooks it on the north, is the ancient Curia or Senate-house, rebuilt by Diocletian, and converted into a Christian church in the seventh 52 THE FORUM [iv. century A.D. The fagade, which now displays bare brick- work, was once faced with marble slabs in the lower and stucco in the upper portion ; some fragments of the latter may be seen just below the cornice. We can see at a glance how the accumulation of rubbish has gradually raised the level of the Forum. In front of the building is the concrete core of a flight of steps which led to the original doorway, which has been filled up with fragments of marble, porphyry columns, and inscriptions. On either side may be seen graves, one of which contains a skeleton, excavated in the brickwork after the raising of the ground level. The modern doorway, whose threshold takes the place of the lintel of the original entrance, belongs to the seventeenth century, when the ancient bronze doors were removed to the principal entrance of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, which they still adorn. The enlargement of the Senate-house by Julius C^nesar considerably reduced the size of the Comitium. It has been excavated in several places down to the virgin soil, and something of its earlier history can be traced. Opposite to the door of the Senate-house is a circular marble base, which once supported a fountain, resting partly on the strip of marble pavement immediately in front of the Senate- house, partly on the travertine paving of the Comitium, which dates from the later Empire. If we stand here and look towards the Senate-house we see beneath our feet a small piece of pavement made of neatly squared slabs of travertine, whose orientation coincides almost exactly with the cardinal points of the compass ; this belongs to the Republican Comitium in its latest period. Below this again will be seen some remains of tufa steps leading down to an early pavement made of broken tufa ; these steps, which must belong to a very early period, are parallel with the front of the Senate-house. If we now turn our backs to Senate-house we see immediately to our right a pedestal originally set up in the reign of Antoninus Pius (a.d. 154), but re-dedicated in the name of Maxentius (the opponent of Constantine at the battle of the Milvian Bridge) to " Father M IV.] T//E FORUM 53 Mars the Unconquered" and the founder of his "Eternal City" on April 21, the birthday of Rome. Below us on our left are the remains of a flight of tufa steps which led up to a raised platform ; they are interrupted by lozenge-shaped " augural pits," resembling those which we saw beside the Sacred Way. Returning to the line of the street we see the retaining wall of this platform in not quite regular opus quadratum made of narrow blocks of tufa, and turning to the right approach a zinc roof which covers a pavement of black marble, with a rude curb of white slabs on the level of the late pavement. It certainly belongs in its present form to late Imperial times, and was perhaps restored by Maxentius, but we cannot fail to connect it with the Black Stone {lapis niger) mentioned by the Roman antiquarians from the time of Varro onwards, which was said to mark the site of the tomb of Romulus, or, according to others, of Faustulus the shepherd, who brought up the twin founders of Rome. Beneath the black pavement a remark- able group of monuments was discovered in 1901. To the left we see two parallel bases of tufa with a carved mould- ing, between which is a small block of tufa resembling an altar. Behind these is a rectangular tufa platform. We are told by ancient authorities that two lions guarded the tomb of Romulus, and that this tomb was "on," "before," or "behind" the Rostra. It is natural to suppose that the parallel bases are those which supported the lions, and that the platform is part of the Rostra. Across the front of this group of monuments runs the lowest course of the flight of tufa steps already mentioned, and immediately to the right of the " tomb of Romulus " we see on a second step a truncated conical column of yellow tufa ; behind this is the lower part of a pyramidal pillar with bevelled edges, bearing an inscription engraved in extremely ancient char- acters, probably of the sixth or fifth century B.C. The inscription runs in vertical lines, alternately from top to bottom and bottom to top,^ so that only the beginnings and ^ This was termed in Greek bousirophedon ; the word denotes e movement of an ox ploughing in alternate furrows. 54 THE FORUM [iv. ends of certain lines can be read. Its meaning is quite obscure, but it certainly mentions the "King" (PECEI = regi\ his kalator or "summoner,'' and his "carriages," iouxinenta. As the date of the inscription is undetermined, we cannot tell whether the King is one of the early rulers of Rome, or the rex sacrorufn, who succeeded to his religious functions. Certain ceremonies were, we know, performed by the latter in the Comitium in historical times, and it is possible that the inscription refers to them. The monuments just described were buried under a mass of sacrificial remains and votive offerings, ranging in date from the sixth to the first century B.C., mixed up in the utmost confusion. It follows that the materials were not deposited on the spot until the first century B.C., when (as we must infer from Varro's statement) the Black Stone was laid to mark the site. Julius Cassar, it would seem, restored the pavement and probably raised its level : fragments of the marble of which it was made have been found in the under- ground corridors to be mentioned presently. The partial destruction of the monuments underlying the Black Stone must date from the time of their burial ; and the difficulty of attributing such an act to the Romans of the first century has given rise to various theories — e.g. that the havoc was wrought by 'the Gauls in B.C. 390 ; but the supposition can hardly be reconciled with the conditions of the votive deposit, and the lion-tomb itself seems to be later than that date. Leaving this group of monuments, we proceed to the N.W., observing the curved drain walled with opus reii- culatum which marks the boundary of the Republican cofnitium. We may, perhaps, conceive of the original boundary as a complete semicircle (in the centre of which would be the Rostra), and thus understand what ancient writers mean when they speak of the " horns of the Com- itium," marked by the statues of Pythagoras and Alci- biades, which were set up in obedience to an oracle of the Delphic priestess as "the wisest and bravest of the Greeks." IV.] THE FORUM 55 In the space immediately to the S. 01 the Black Stone are the remains of monuments of the later Empire. The most noticeable relic is a square base of white marble adorned on all sides with reliefs carved in the decadent style of the early fourth century a.d. The date is fixed by the inscription on the front — Ccesarum decennalia feliciter — which refers to the cele- brations of A.D. 303, when the " Ctesars " Constantius and Galerius completed the tenth, and the "Augusti" Diocle- tian and Maximian the twentieth, year of their rule. The corresponding pedestal set up in honour of Diocletian and his colleague was found about 1500, but has been lost. Both originally stood in front of the Senate-house. The sculptures on the back and sides of the pedestal of the " Caesars " are interesting as examples of the decline of art. They represent an Emperor sacrificing to Rome and Mars, a civil procession, and the pig, sheep, and ox of the Suove- taurilia being led to sacrifice. Note these last and compare them with the Trajanic reliefs presently to be described. Between this base and the Black Stone are fragments of marble blocks which belonged to monuments set up in honour of Stilicho, the general of Honorius and opponent of Alaric. The name of Stilicho was erased after his fall and murder in A.D. 408. Overlooking the Comitium on the W. was the Area Volcani (or Volcanal), i.e. the precinct sacred to Volcanus, the god of destroying fire. Here, according to legend, Romulus convoked the Senate of the Fathers ; here, too, before the building of the Rostra, magistrates addressed the assembled people. The virgin rock is here cut into rough steps, and a large platform or altar has been hewn in the tufa, covered with cement and painted red. It shows signs of having been damaged and restored. In order to reach this platform we pass through the Arch of Septimius Severus, built in a.d. 203 in honour of that Emperor and his sons Caracalla and Geta. The inscription on the attic can be read from the matrices, although the bronze lettering has disappeared. It will be seen that the last two letters of the third and the whole of the fourth line are cut deeper than ■ 56 THE FORUM [iv. the rest and have taken the place of other words which have been chiselled out. These words gave the name and title of Geta, the younger son of Severus, who was murdered by his elder brother Caracalla in a.d. 211 ; they were then erased and the titles "Father of the fatherland, best and bravest of princes " added to those of Severus and Caracalla. The reliefs of the arch, especially those of the piers above the sidebays, illustrate the decadence of art after the Antonine period, and the development of "bird's-eye per- spective" (p. 184) until the relief almost resembles a map. The subjects are taken from the Oriental campaigns of Severus, who in a.d. 193 attacked the Parthian and Arab allies of his rival, Pescennius Niger, and annexed Meso- potamia to the Empire, and in a.d. 198-9 invaded Parthia and captured its two capitals, Ctesiphon and Seleucia ; but the interpretation of its details has not as yet been at- tempted with success. The reliefs which adorn the pedestals of the eight composite columns which flank the bays of the arch represent Oriental prisoners led in chains by Roman legionaries. Like many other triumphal arches, that of Severus was not intended for traffic and was approached by a flight of steps leading to the central passage : under the later Empire the level of the Forum in front of the arch was lowered, and three longer flights were constructed as ap- proaches to the three bays. We can see how the travertine foundations of the arch, which thus became exposed, were faced with marble slabs. To the S. of the arch of Severus are the remains of the Rostra as rebuilt in Imperial times. The removal of the Rostra from the Comitium to the Forum was part of Juhus Caesar's great scheme of reconstruction ; but it was not carried out in his lifetime. The building which we now see consists of two parts. In front we have a rectangular platform built of opus quadratum in tufa, which has been restored in modern times in order to receive the marble cornice which can be largely pieced together from extant fragments. In the front may be seen the holes in which the ship's prows which formed IV.] THE FORUM ^ the conventional ornament of this and— as we shall see —other platforms were fixed. The facade was divided into compartments by bronze pilasters and frames ; a ship's prow was placed in the centre of each compartment and another fixed in the centre of each pilaster. At the Northern end of the platform a rudely built extension will be noticed ; this is partly formed of architectural members taken from other buildings and roughly hacked into shape. It dates from A.D. 470, as an inscription shows, and was perhaps raised in order to restore the symmetry of the Forum which had been impaired by the erection of honorary columns on its southern side. Passing to the back of the Rostra we see the remains of the travertine piers and back wall of brick by which the platform was supported, and observe how these supports were strengthened in late times by additional brickwork. The reason of this was that the platform be- came overweighted by honorary statues. Some idea of its appearance is given by a bas-relief on the Arch of Con- stantine, described on p. 253. Behind the rectangular platform is a semicircular structure, faced in its Northern half only with slabs of porta santa divided by pilasters of Affj'icano, resting on a marble plinth upon whose blocks letters of the Greek alphabet are inscribed. These letters do not form a continuous series, and it is clear that the blocks were removed from some other building. It will also be noticed that at the angle next to the Arch of Severus the plinth has been hacked away in order to fit that of the side- wall of the Rostra. The relation of the two buildings is best explained as follows. The hemicycle was planned by CiEsar and completed by Augustus : it was approached (as may be seen from the back) by a flight of steps at the base of the Capitol, and served to carry the Rostra until the time of the Flavian Emperors, or possibly Trajan, who built the rectangular platform adjoining and connected with it. Until the time of Septimius Severus this was still approached by the curved flight of steps at the back : but when that Emperor built his triumphal arch he unroofed part of the platform, forming a small court of irregular shape, gave to 58 THE FORUM [iv. the exposed portion of the hemicycle its marble facing and built a stairway from the open court to the platform above. At the northern end of the hemicycle are the remains of a large circular pedestal in brick-faced concrete ; the monu- ment which it bore was the Umbilicus Urbis Romse, or " Navel of the City of Rome," marking its ideal centre, which is mentioned in the fourth -century descriptions. It was long supposed that the "Golden Milestone'* set up by Augustus, upon which the distances from Rome to the principal cities of the empire were given, stood at the other extremity of the hemicyle, since it was known to have been below the Temple of Saturn : but no remains of it were found there. What we do see is a small paved court, which can be identified (by means of an inscription discovered in the six- teenth century and since destroyed) as the Schola or office of the curule sediles. It has been called the Schola Xa?itha, since a certain A. Fabius Xanthus was one of its builders. Behind this court may be seen a row of low arcades faced with carefully jointed opus incerium — almost regular enough to be called opus reticulatum : the vaulted chambers under these arcades have a pavement of pounded brick. These arcades have been supposed to represent the Rostra as first reconstructed accord to Julius C'aesar's plan ; but they are in reality a viaduct built to support the Clivus Capitolinus — the winding street which prolonged the Sacred Way and gave access to the Capitol. Its pavement is well preserved below and in front of the Temple of Saturn ; the viaduct was probably built when the temple was restored and enlarged by Plancus (in 42 B.c). At the S. end of the arcades are the foundations of the Arch of Tiberius, built to commemorate the recovery of the eagles lost in the disaster which befell Varus in a.d. 9. The Sacred Way did not pass through the arch, but curved slightly to the N. in order to avoid it. As we turn eastwards and approach the centre of the Forum we pass the Column of Phocas, resting on a pedestal with nine steps. This is the "column with the IV.] THE FORUM 59 buried base " ot Byron's poem. The inscription (discovered in 181 1 ) shows that Smaragdus, the "exarch" or governor of the Byzantine possessions in Italy, set up on the column a statue of the Emperor Phocas in A.D. 608. Phocas was a tyrant of low origin and abominable cruelty ; he presented the Pantheon to Boniface IV (p. 174). The column, how- ever, existed before his time, and was probably erected in honour of Diocletian. The steps of the pedestal were added by Smaragdus, and are made of materials taken from the surrounding buildings. In the centre of the Forum Piazza will be seen a number of apertures giving access to the subterranean corridors, which intersect at right angles, forming a chess-board pattern. These are very carefully finished in concrete and tufa, and the vaulted chambers at the intersections, in the roofs of which are the openings, contained wooden frames for small lifts raised by pulleys, which were worked by windlasses standing in the corridors. We know that Julius Cassar celebrated games in the Forum and covered it with an awning, and there can be little doubt that the passages and trap-doors were used to raise wild beasts, gladiators, etc. After Caesar's time games were no longer held in the Forum, and the corridors were found to be choked with earth containing no fragments later than the time of Augustus. In 1903 the ground to the E. of the- Column of Phocas was explored, and part of the pyramid enclosing the base of the column was removed. In the travertine pavement were found incised some letters (originally filled with bronze) of an inscription— part of which had long been exposed but unnoticed — giving the name of the praetor, L. N^evius Surdinus, who probably lived under Augustus. This gave the clue to the remains found in this part of the Forum. The foundations of walls nearest to the Column of Phocas are those of the praetor^s tribunal, upon which the yearly edict which regulated so much of Roman legal procedure was exposed. In the unpaved square to the N. stood the statue of Marsyas and the fig-tree seen in 6o THE FORUM [iv. the sculptured representations of the Forum shortly to be described. Finally, the name of Surdinus is also found on the back of the relief in the Palazzo dei Conservatori (p. 133), which shows Mettus Curtius plunging into the abyss called the Lacus Curtius. Now to the E. of the tribunal is a piece of travertine paving enclosed by a curb within which is a twelve-sided foundation of tufa ; and this must clearly be the the traditional site of the Lacus Curtius, originally a marshy pool, to which various legends were attached. One of these told how Mettus Curtius, the leader of the Sabine host in battle with Romulus, plunged with his horse and was rescued with difficulty. The best-known legend is that which tells how, in 362 B.C., M. Curtius plunged into a chasm which suddenly opened in the Forum, and thus saved the city ; this version is depicted on a rehef found in 1553 and pre- served in the Palazzo dei Conservatori. A more prosaic story is that of Varro, according to which the consul of 445 B.C., C. Curtius, placed a puteal or well-head on the spot, in order to mark (according to the usual custom) the spot where a thunderbolt had fallen. Such a well-head existed in the time of Augustus, and offerings of coin were yearly placed therein by the people, with prayers for the welfare of the Emperor. Near the Lacus Curtius, in the centre of the Forum, may be seen a large foundation of concrete, filled with lumps of travertine, which shows very clearly how such structures were raised by Roman builders (see p. 16). In the upper surface are three travertine sockets, and towards the eastern end is a kind of box or cist lined with slabs of travertine. This foundation undoubtedly supported the colossal eques> trian statue of Domitian described by the poet Statius. In the travertine sockets three of the horse's feet were made fast ; the fourth was raised. The statue, which must have been about six times life-size, was destroyed on the death of Domitian. When the travertine cist was opened it was found to contain five very archaic vases, resembling those found in the early necropolis not far distant (p. 76). The vases contained (besides fragments of pitch and tortoise- IV.] THE FORUM 6i shell) a small gold nugget ; and Comm. Boni reminds us that nuggets of the precious metals were deposited in the foundations of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus when it was rebuilt by Vespasian. He believes that vases of archaic type continued to be manufactured for such purposes even in Imperial times ; but it is not unlikely that the vases were found in an early grave which came to light when the foundation was laid, and were retained from superstitious motives as near as might be to their place of discovery. In the northern part of the piazza the most conspicuous objects are the two plutei or balustrades, which have been mounted on brick bases at the spot where they were found. It is commonly held, but is incapable of proof, that they were originally designed for the platform of the Rostra, and found their way to their present position in the course of the Middle Ages. On one face of each slab are represented the three animals — sheep, pig, and ox— which were immo- lated in the solemn sacrifice of purification {suovetaiirilia)' offered on various occasions. They are adorned with fillets and garlands. On the opposite faces are depicted two scenes with architectural backgrounds, taken from the Forum itself That which is best preserved shows an em- peror (whose head is lost) standing upon a platform adorned with ships' prows, and addressing a group of citizens. Be- hind them we see a base, supporting (as it would appear) a statuary group formed by a seated emperor and a woman holding a child on her left arm and leading another. This indicates the subject of the emperor's oration, which relates to the charitable endowments known as the Alimenta^ by which the revenues derived from loans to landowners, se- cured by mortgages, were applied to the maintenance of necessitous children. These endowments seem to have been planned by Nerva, but the system was hardly in work- ing order before Trajan's reign ; it seems likely, therefore, that the seated statue represents Nerva and the standing figure Trajan.' At the end of the relief are seen a fig-tree and a figure of Marsyas bearing a wine-skin ; the back- ground is formed by a Basilica and a Corinthian .temple 62 THE FORUM [iv. between which is an open space. On the extreme L. is an archway. The second relief is less perfectly preserved : at its right-hand extremity we can just see the ships' prows, which show that here, too, the emperor was represented upon a platform. The fig-tree and statue of Marsyas are also repeated at the other end of the scene, which is filled by a group of men bearing large tablets, which they are throwing down in a pile at the emperor's feet : these repre- sent the registers of taxes due to the Imperial treasury on inheritances, which Trajan remitted. Here, again, a basilica is the principal object in the background ; to the R. .of it Are seen t\yo temples, between which is an arch. There can be scarcely any doubt that the Rostra, the temples of Vespasian and Saturn, and the Basilica Julia are here represented : and in the foreground we see the fig-tree and the statue of Marsyas, which (as we have seen) stood near the Praetor's tribunal. As to the other reliefs two views are possible. According to one, the N. side of the Forum is here shown with the Rostra and the Senate-house and the Basilica .Emilia, but the position of the fig-tree and Marsyas would then be hard to explain. It seems better to regard the Rostra here portrayed to be those which de- cor'ated the Temple of Julius Cassar (see below), the Corinthian building as the Temple of the Castores, and the BasiHca as the remaining half of the Basilica Julia, forming a continuous scene with the other relief. The monument has been dated in the reigns of Domitian and Hadrian, but the scenes are in either case less easily explained, and the style of the reliefs accords well with the Trajanic dating. Along the N, side of the Forum runs a road parallel with the Sacred Way, and on the N, edge of this may be seen a circular foundation with a marble plinth. This stands just above the junction of two sewers, one of which — that which comes from the W. — is the Cloaca Maxima itself; and a coin-type enables us to identity the circular base as that of the sanctuary of Venus Cloacina, the Goddess of Sewers. This divinity was symbolically regarded as the Purifier, and tradition told how Romans IV.] THE FORUM 63 and Sabines had "purged themselves" of their enmity and set up this sanctuary. No trace has been found of the famous Temple of Janus, a passage with double doors, closed only when Rome Was at peace with the world, which cannot have been far from this point. The chapel of Cloacina stands at the foot of the steps which lead up to the Basilica yCmilia, the history of which has been traced on page 44 f. Like the Basilica Julia, it had a two-storeyed arcade opening on the Forum, but its plan was very different. Immediately behind the arcade was a row of iaberncs or shops with party-walls of tufa, and be- hind these again was the great hall of the Basilica, which was divided by three ranges of columns into a central nave and three aisles, two on the N. side and one on the S. Many fragments of the columns, which were of affricano^ as were also those of smaller diameter which belonged to the upper galleries of the aisles, may be seen within the building. The main entrance was, no doubt, from the side of the Argiletum, a street which passed between the Basilica Emilia and the Senate-house and led to the busy quarter of the Subura. Through a hole in the floor of the hall may be seen a drain previously constructed with blocks of travertine. The hall is paved with blocks of giallo antico, qffricafto, cipolli?io^ pavonazzetto^ and porta- sania^ and shows traces of fire ; in one place a heap of molten bronze coins may be seen, some of which can be identified and belong to the fourth century A.D., so that the Basilica may have been damaged in the sack of Alaric (a.d. 410). In any case, it was restored in the fifth century, when the fagade was completely altered. In place of the lower storey of the arcade, with its massive travertine piers, was set up a row of granite columns at much shorter intervals, resting on rudely worked bases : three of these may be seen to- wards the eastern end of the Basilica, where the portico had a projecting wing. In the Dark Ages this end of the building was converted into a dwelling-house, whose chambers were paved with opus Alexandrinmn of giallo antico and red and green porphyry. In some of these are 64 THE FORUM [iv. now preserved architectural fragments which belonged to the Basilica in its earlier form, amongst which are two beautiful door-jambs worked with acanthus foliage in low relief. Facing the easterly projecting wing of the Basilica Emilia is the concrete core of the podium upon which stood the Temple of Julius Csesar, built by Augustus at the eastern end of the Forum. No remains of the temple itself exist, but in the centre of the podium is a semi- circular niche containing the remains of a round altar. This has been deliberately destroyed and the niche roughly blocked up with a wall of tufa blocks— doubtless in Chris- tian times, when it was desired to put an end to the worship of Julius Caesar, whilst retaining the temple as an historical monument. The fagade was adorned in antiquity with ships' prows, and, under the name oi Rostra Julia^ formed a pendant to the original Rostra at the western end of the Forum. To the S. of the temple are the travertine foundations of an arch with three bays, identified as the Arch of Augustus, built in commemoration of the restitu- tion by the Parthians of the standards taken from Crassus at Carrhge in B.C. 53. The foundations rest upon a road neatly paved with blocks of lava. Between these founda- tions and the Temple of Castor and Pollux were found "augural pits" lined with travertine, making the Eastern limit of the Forum according to Caesar's plan. At the S.E. corner of the piazza rises the Temple of Castor and Pollux, dated by tradition to B.C. 484, and built in honour of the Heavenly Twins who, in B.C. 496, conveyed to Rome the news of the victory gained by Postumius over the Latins at Lake Regillus, and watered their horses at the neighbouring spring of Juturna. We know that the temple was restored in 117 B.C., and again under Augustus, when it was rebuilt by Tiberius and dedicated in the name of him- self and his brother Drusus in a.d. 6 ; nor was this, probably, the latest of its restorations. If we examine the podium we can trace remains of different periods in its construction. Originally, as it would seem, it was built of cappellaccio — IV.] THE FORUM 65 soft grey-green tufa, only used at an early date by the Romans— of which only a few courses are exposed. Then this was encased in concrete with a facing of tufa blocks, and we can distinguish various periods of restoration by means of the materials used for filling the cement — first tufa only, then tufa and travertine ; pozzolana, again, was not used in the making of the earlier concrete. It is inter- esting, too, to note that immediately under the columns, where the pressure was greatest, travertine was used instead of tufa. Between these piers were chambers in which treasure was deposited. In front of the temple was a plat- form decorated with ships' beaks— a third Rostra— and approached by staircases at either corner. Three columns of the temple are still standing, and many fragments of the entablature and cornice have been discovered. They are very finely worked, and it is doubtful whether they should be attributed to the restoration of Tiberius or to the time of Hadrian. If we climb to the top of the podium we can distinguish a pavement of black and white mosaic, of which a small fragment is preserved, from a later one at a higher level, made of coloured marbles (not now visible). Following the Vicus Tuscus (p. 51) between the Temple of Castor and the Basilica Julia, we notice that the street was originally paved, not with lava as it is at the higher level, but with small cubes of brick. We soon reach a huge and unsightly ruin, once a large rectangular hall with niches in its walls, approached by a vestibule six metres deep, having a large niche at each end. The description of Caligula's bridge from Palatine to Capitol (see below, p. 93) makes it practically certain that this was the Temple of Augustus, built by Tiberius, and restored (after a fire) by Domitian. It contained statues — doubtless placed in the niches — of the various deified members of the Julio-Claudian house. We also hear of a Library attached to this temple, and it is plausibly conjectured that this is represented by the church of S. Maria Antiqua, described in Christian Rome {'^. 184, fif., Plan xvi.). The present building seems to date from the reign of Domitian. In the forecourt may be seen a rect- 66 THE FORUM [iv. angular basin to which a flight of steps leads down, and as this makes an angle of about 30 degrees with the walls of the court and is partly buried under the foundations of the nave of the church, it was no doubt the inipluvium of a house attached to the Imperial residence on the Palatine (with which the later building is connected by a ramp).i Here, no doubt, Domitian built the " sanctuary of Minerva behind the temple of Augustus " in which were set up the bronze tablets containing the names of the time-expired auxiliary soldiers who obtained Roman citizenship on their discharge. The nave and sanctuary of the church formed the Library. Close to the church is the Chapel of the Forty Martyrs (see Christian Rome, p. 189), an ancient building whose destination is unknown ; and adjoining it are a group of monuments which belong to the next division of our subject. Beyond the temple of Augustus is a small piazza paved with travertine, upon which stand the remains of very late buildings. Tabernae^ used as shops or offices, open on to it on two sides ; beneath the slope of the Palatine these are in two storeys. They have been identified with the "ware- houses of Germanicus" mentioned in the descriptions of Rome. ^ On Sundays, when the excavations of the Forum and Palatine are free to the public, visitors can pass from the one to the other by a wicket-gate at the top of this incline. THE SACRED WAY AND ITS MONUMENTS F'^ I "'HE road which connected the Palatine settlement [^ J^ with the Forum bore the name of the Sacred Way. The Romans explained the name by the legend that after the battle between Romulus and the Sabines under Titus Tatius a peace was here confirmed by solemn sacri- fices. But a sufficient explanation is to be found in the fact that just as the Forum was the centre of Rome's political life, so the Sacred Way was the focus of the State religion. This religion was the counterpart of that of the agricultural household, and its rites were administered not by a priestly caste, but by members of the Roman aristocracy, who per- formed in the larger unit of the State the functions of family worship. At the head of the State Church stood in origin the king, and when kingship was abolished a "king of sacrifices " {Rex sacrorum) was appointed in his stead. His official residence was on the Velia, where, according to tradition, two of the Roman kings — Ancus Martius and Tarquinius Superbus — had had their abode. But it was also told how Numa Pompilius, to whom the organisation of the State-worship was in large measure ascribed, had inhabited a " palace " {Regia) on the Sacred Way, but had afterwards resigned it to the Chief Priest {Pontifex maximus) as his residence. In point of fact, the Regia of historical times was not the residence of the Pontifex Maximus, but a precinct containing various shrines connected with the worship of the primitive agricultural community, which was 67 68 THE SACRED WAY [v. carried on by the College of Priests of which the Pontifex Maximus was the head, and which counted amongst its members the chief of the Flamines, who were the priests of special divinities. The Pontifex Maximus inhabited the " public house " {domus publico), which was on the opposite side of the Sacred Way ; and close by was the precinct of Vesta, the hearth-goddess of the State-household, whose fire was tended by the Six Virgins who represented the daughters of Rome. Hard by their dwelling was the Holy Spring of Juturna, from which they drew water for domestic and ritual use. It is at this point that our description begins.] Immediately adjoining the N. wall of the Chapel of the Forty Martyrs, and set at an angle therewith, is a little shrine of brickwork, in front of which are the bases of two columns : on the architrave, which is partly preserved, and has been set up above the back wall of the shrine, was inscribed IVTVRNAI SACRVM — ' Sacred to Juturna.' Juturna was in origin simply one of the many spring nymphs worshipped by the Romans, and belonged to the pre-mythical period. Not until the habit of story-telling had been borrowed from Greece did she find a place in the national epic as the sister of Turnus, prince of the Rutuli, in which guise she appears in Virgil's AUneid. Immediately in front of the chapel stands a marble well-head, bearing an inscription which tells us that it was restored by the Curule ccdile, M. Barbatius Pollio, possibly to be identified with a person mentioned in Cicero's Philippics as a partisan of Mark Antony. The ropes by which the buckets of water were hauled up have worn deep grooves in the edge of the well-head. It must have continued in use until very late times, for a slab of marble and an altar of the third century A.D. with a relie showing a woman addressing a soldier (perhaps Juturna and Turnus) were placed as steps beside it in order that the buckets might be drawn up with greater ease.^ The well- head does not in fact stand over a spring, but over a shaft connected by a lead pipe with the actual spring of Juturna, 1 This altar has now been set upright on the lower step. 70 THE SACRED WAY [v. which in Imperial times was enclosed in a tank — the Lacus Juturnai — lined with slabs of marble. In the centre of this tank is a rectangular pedestal built of opus reticu- latum^ faced with marble, which may have carried statues of Castor and Pollux, who were said to have watered their horses at the spring. A travertine foundation which origi- nally enclosed a somewhat larger space than the present pool marks the earlier limit of the Lacus, and in late times it was made still smaller by the erection of a large brick archway and wall. At the bottom of the pool was found a marble altar, which has been set up beside it ; it is adorned with reliefs, which represent, on the narrow ends, Jupiter and Leda (with the Swan) ; on the broad sides. Castor and Pollux and a female divinity holding a torch, who must be identified, if we keep to the Greek myth, with Helen con- ceived as a moon-goddess. The water of the spring was believed to possess healing qualities, and the votive offerings found in the precinct show that women resorted to Juturna for protection in childbirth (the name Juturna was inter- preted as " the helper " — so that a goddess of childbirth may perhaps be represented on the altar). Many fragments of sculpture have been found in or near the pool ; amongst them parts of life-size statues of the Dioscuri. These have been placed in the small rooms at the back of the pool, which support an inclined way leading up to the N. angle of the Palatine. In one of the rooms was found a statue of ^sculapius, and there is reason to think that resort was made to the spring by sick persons on account of the medi- cinal qualities which it was supposed to possess. The rooms^ also served as offices for the commissioners of the water- supply {curatores aquarum\ several of whose inscriptions were found therein. In one of them will be seen a collec- tion of votive offerings, etc., found in the pool itself, amongst them a large number of glass cups, showing that the water was taken in small doses. Turning to the R. at the N. end of the precinct of Juturna we see the circular podium which once supported the Temple of Vesta, which contained the hearth-fire 0£ v.] THE SACRED WAY 71 the Roman community, extinguished only on the first ot March in each year and then rekindled by the Pontifex Maximus by means of a primitive fire-drill, and also a secret recess, the penus VestcE, in which certain symbolical objects, such as the Palladium, were kept hidden from the public gaze. It should not, strictly speaking, be called a temple, since it was not consecrated as such, and contained no statue of the divinity to whom it belonged ; neither had it the four- square form of the templum^ but was circular in shape, in this respect faithfully preserving the form of the primitive wattled hut in which the hearth-fire of the community was kindled ; it was, in fact, simply "the House of the Hearth." Even in historical times it was probably rebuilt in something like its original shape when, as in 241 B.C. and 210 B.C., it was destroyed by fire ; under the Empire it assumed the form of a peripteral temple surrounded by twenty columns, between which were bronze gratings. The columns stood on pedestals, and the entrance was by a flight of steps on the E. The dome was crowned— as the coin-types show — by a kind of chimney in the form of a flower. If we ascend the podium by the steps formed of tufa blocks, upon which marble slabs once rested, we see in the centre of it a deep pit, whose walls are partly preserved on three sides, lined below with opus incertum and above with brick. In the walls of the podium we can distinguish three layers of concrete, which correspond with the successive restorations of the temple. The last of these was the work of Julia Domna, the wife of Septimius Severus, and was undertaken in consequence of the destruction ot the temple by the great fire of A.D. 192. To this final rebuilding we must assign the fragments of the columns, entablature, and coffered roof of the portico, which are to be seen near the temple. The frieze was adorned with sacrificial emblems. It will be noticed that between the topmost layer of concrete (filled with blocks of yellowish tufa), and that immediately below it there is a stratum of debris and marble chips ; these prove that the temple was hastily restored after its destruc- tion by fire. The central pit is the favissa^ into which the 72 THE SACRED WAY [v. ashes of the sacred fire were allowed to fall ; only once a year, on the isth of June, was the pit emptied and the rubbish removed to the Altar of Plenty {Ops)\^ the Capitol, where they served as a fertility-charm. The day is marked in the Calendars Q St. D.F. {Quando stercus delatum fas\ i.e. " a holiday until the rubbish has been removed." The " House of Vesta " only occupied a small space in the precinct of that goddess, which was surrounded by a wall faced with fine marble cement {opus albarium) of which some traces can be seen. The greater part of the precinct was, under the later Empire, occupied by the House of the Vestals {Domus Virginum Vestalium) ; and this grew gradually from modest dimensions to an elaborate cloistered building. The precinct also contained a grove {Lucus Vesice) and the "Public House" {domus publico), inhabited by the Pontifex Maximus, who, as head of the State family, was technically the father of the Vestal Virgins. We enter the house of the Vestals by a doorway on our R. as we leave the temple, noticing to the R. of the entrance a small shrine in which a statue of the goddess once stood, and find ourselves in a large rectangular court — the Atrium Vestae — originally surrounded by a colonnade of forty-eight Corinthian columns of cipollino, and an upper story with columns of breccia corallina. Only the travertine bases of the lower arcade are preserved, together with some frag- ments of the columns ; two whole columns of breccia and several fragments may be seen beside the S. wall. In the floor of the court are three water-tanks {impluvia) ; that in the centre is partly buried under the foundations of an octagonal structure — whether shrine, fountain, or arbour is quite uncertain. Beside the westernmost tank may be seen some remains — a pavement in mosaic and another in tufa — of the earlier Atrium : the present building is probably due in its general plan to Hadrian, but was much restored by Septimius Severus after the fire of A.D. 192. At the western end of the Atrium are various store-rooms and a bakery containing two ovens ; these may be entered by a doorway opposite to the southern side of the Aedes Vestae. In the v.] THE SACRED WAY 73 S.W. angle oi the building is a suite of rooms, one of which ends in an apse. It has been thought that these may have been the Penetralia, where sacred objects were kept in the 9 custody of the Vestals. The rooms opening on the court to N. and S. were the living-rooms of the Vestals. Those upon the S. side, being built against the slope of the Palatine and cut off from the sunlight by the lofty buildings which towered upon the hill, were damp and unwholesome ; and to remedy this double walls and floors were built in the third century a.d. In some of the rooms, where the later floor has been re- moved, costly pavements of coloured marble belonging to an earlier period have been brought to light. They are made of giallo antico, pavonazzetto^ and portasania. Beyond these chambers we come to a kitchen and a room containing a mill, in which the corn used by the Vestals was ground. There are also remains of staircases leading to an upper storey containing bathrooms. The number of storeys in the Atrium is not quite certain, but in any case its height was not the same in all parts, and it was for this reason that the colonnade was built in two storeys, in order to mask the irregularities of the building. In one of the inner wall- spaces was found a hoard of nearly four hundred gold coins, almost all of the fifth century A.D., hidden about A.D. 470, in the troublous times which preceded the fall of the Western Empire. The Vestals had been expelled from their cloister by Theodosius the Great in a.d. 394, and the Atrium had become the residence of some Imperial official. At the eastern end is a hall corresponding with the Tablinum in the typical Roman house, approached by a flight of steps : both the eastern end of the corridor, and the Tablinum itself, were paved with coloured marbles. Three rooms open out of the Tablinum on either side, and in one of those to the S. may be seen a number of jars, which served to form a hypocaust. The rooms on the N. side of the Court are not well preserved and of little interest. Statues of the Senior Vestals ( Virgines Vestales Maximce) were set up on pedestals all round the Atrium. Several of 74 THE SACRED WAY [v. these are preserved, as well as fragments of the statues which they supported. The best preserved have, however, been removed to the Museo delle Terme (p. 214). Amongst the inscriptions on the pedestals is one (the third from the % S.W. corner of the Atrium) in which the name of the Vestal is erased, except for the letter C. The date of the inscription is June 9, a.d. 364, and it is often said that the name erased was that of the Vestal Claudia, who, according to Prudentius, embraced Christianity and entered the Convent of S. Law- rence (at S. Lorenzo fuori le mura) ; but it seems that the name must have contained at least nine letters. Perhaps, however, the poet's "Claudia" is a fancy name. On leaving the Atrium we turn to the R., where, at the back of the N. wall we see a row of iaberricE^ which were probably let as shops. Beneath the floor of these remains of an earlier building with a different orientation have been brought to light. It is supposed that this was the Domus Publica, in which the Pontifex Maximus had his residence until Augustus assumed that office in 12 B.C., when he pre- sented it to the College of Vestals, and in order to satisfy traditional scruples conveyed a part of his palace on the Palatine to public uses. The atrium of the house, with a deep impiuvm?n, and the tablinum with an apse and mosaic pavement, can be distinguished, as well as a room with a wall-painting of trees and birds on a background of blue sky ; the same style of decoration was found in the Villa of Li via ad Gallinas at Prima Porta. It is certain that the precinct of Vesta was approached by the Sacred Way, but not so clear whether that name properly belongs to the narrow road passing along its north- western corner and separating it from the Regia, rather than to the broader street to the N. of this building. If this latter be the true Sacra Via, its course must have been altered by the building of the Temple of Julius Caesar. The remains of the Regia are those of a building ot irregular pentagonal shape, with sides fronting both branches of the road. Scarcely anything remains but the foundations ; but these enable us to distinguish the republi- v.] THE SACRED WAY 75 can building, with pavements of tufa, from that raised by Cu. Domitius Calvinus, who rebuilt the Regia in solid marble in 36 B.C. Upon the marble walls were engraved in double panels the Fasti Consulares, or lists of consuls from the beginning of the Republic untjj. the foundation of the Empire, and on the pilasters which diversified the walls were inscribed the Fasti Tritcmp hales, or list of triumphs celebrated in Rome, together with their occasions. Many of the blocks containing these lists were found in 1 546, and conveyed to the Palazzo dei Conservatori (p. 136) ; others have been discovered in recent times. In the early Middle Ages the Regia was transformed into a private house. A doorway (by which the building is now entered) was rudely hacked in the narrow eastern wall, and on the N. side the house was approached by two steps of travertine leading to a portico of cipollino columns on bases of red granite. Passing through the doorway above-mentioned, we notice in the centre of the Republican pavement a circular sub- structure of grey tufa. It has been conjectured that this was the foundation of the Shrine of Mars {Sacrariu7n Martis\ in which were kept the sacred shields {attcilia) and spears {hastce) of the war-god. These were used by the Salii, or "dancing priests," on ritual occasions, and were suspended in such a manner that they were sensitive to the slightest tremor of earthquake ; when they " moved them- selves " the portent was duly recorded. At the south-western end of this part of the Regia is a small room with a pavement of black and white mosaic, shown by an inscription to have been the office of the Kalatores (" summoners ") of the pontifices and flamines. In the northern part of the building was an open court, approached by an ante-chamber at the eastern side. In this were two wells and a large subterranean cistern \\\ ft. deep, cylindrical at the bottom and domed at the top. This was built of tufa lined with cement made of pounded pot- sherds {opus signinutn). It was probably used for the storage of grain, which was poured in through a narrow opening in the N. side near to the top ; and it is natural to 76 THE SACRED WAY [v. connect it with the worship of Ops Consiva, the Goddess of Plentiful Store {Consiva from Condere, "to lay up," or "bury"). We know, however, that the sanctuary of Ops Consiva was a secret chamber entered only by the Vestals (together with the Pontifex Maximus) on August 25, at the end of corn harvest, so that the shrine itself cannot have stood in the open court. The northern side of the Regia faces the church ot S. Lorenzo in Miranda, or to give it its ancient name, the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, built in a.d. 141 in honour of the deified Empress Faustina the Elder, as the inscription on the architrave records ; the words engraved on the frieze— DIVO ANTONINO ET, "to the Divine Antoninus and . . , " — were added after the Emperor's death by order of the Senate. From the roadway a broad flight of steps, in the centre of which was a pedestal, doubtless for a statue of the Empress, led up to the portico, which had six columns of cipollino in the front as well as two at each side. Several of the columns have figures and inscriptions rudely scratched on them. The walls (built into those of the church, which dates from about the eighth century) were of peperino with marble facings which have long since disappeared : only parts of the frieze, with a graceful pattern of griffins and candelabra remain. The excavations of 1902 and the following years have brought to light the remains of a cemetery of very early date at a depth of 15-20 feet below the imperial level, which was partly buried beneath the foundations of the Temple of Faustina, but extends for some distance beyond its S.E. corner. About forty graves have hitherto been discovered, and these are of two types — {a) long trenches in which bodies were buried, sometimes in rude coffins made of hollowed tree-trunks or blocks of tufa, and((i5) circular pits in each of which was placed a large jar containing sacrificial offerings and vases ; one of these held the ashes of a cremated body. These cremation-graves are earlier in date than the inhumation tombs, as is shown {inter alia) by the fact that one of them was partially destroyed in the digging v.] THE SACRED WAY 77 of a burial-trench. The pottery, which for the present is housed in a storehouse on the opposite side of the Sacred Way, and may only be seen by special permission, is rude and primitive : it is hand-made, and the clay is that found in the Forum itself. The most characteristic form is the hut-urn, which reproduces the primitive Italian dwelling, oval in plan, with a thatched roof. The cemetery may have been in use as early as the ninth century B.C., and the latest graves, in which a few vases of Greek importation have been found, are scarcely later than 600 B.C. Clearly it belongs to the period when the several village communities of the Septimontium had not yet formed a single city. To the E. of the cemetery may be seen, below the level of the Sacred Way, a corridor with three rooms built of tufa-blocks on either side. They are paved with bricks laid in a herring- bone pattern {opus spicatum). These rooms have been thought to be a prison, but we know of no such building except that already described (p. 46) ; they are probably store-rooms or cellars belonging to houses of Republican date. They were included in the foundations of the circular building flanked by rectangular projections on either side of a curved porch which we next pass : this is the chapel of the Divine Romulus, not the founder of Rome, but the infant son of the Emperor Maxentius, who was deified on his death in A.D. 307. The richly ornamented architrave which surmounts the door was taken from some earlier building. The bronze doors, though deprived of their original decorations, still retain the ancient lock, which is ingeniously contrived. In the sixth century A.D. Felix IV made the chapel into the vestibule of the church of SS. Cos- mas and Damian, the body of which was formed by an ancient building, whose East wall, built of tufa, may be seen by turning the L. on passing the chapel of Romulus. The N. wall, which is of brick and concrete, belongs to a restoration by Septimius Severus and the Marble Plan of Rome (p. 141), originally formed its facing. This too is in its present form the work of Severus, but is most probably a renewal of a similar plan set up by Vespasian, for the 78 THE SACRED WAY [v. building overlooked the Forum of Peace, so called because it contained the temple of that goddess built by Vespasian (cf. p. 1 54). This has not yet been excavated except for the narrow strip adjoining the building just described, which is often (but without reason) called the Templuui Sacrae Urbis (" Temple of the Sacred City ") ; the name was given to it in the sixteenth century because of the discovery of the Marble Plan attached to the wall. From this point the Sacred Way begins to ascend the slope of the Velia, and hence bore the name of the "Sacred Hill'* {Sacer clivus). The ancient paving was brought to light in 1 901, two metres below the mediaeval road.^ It is five metres wide, and curves gradually to the S. This part of the street was in early times occupied by the private houses of wealthy Roman families, such as the Valerii and Domitii, but like the main thoroughfares of all great cities, it gradually became a place of business, bordered by the shops of jewellers, spice-merchants, and others. Remains of these may be seen on both sides of the road. To the left-hand are foundations which seem to have belonged to the great spice-warehouse {horrea piperataria) built by Domitian and burnt in A.D. 285 ; and above them towers the imposing ruin of the Basilica of Constantine, begun by Maxentius between A.D. 306 and 310 under the name of Basilica Nova^ but completed by his conquerer, whose name it commonly bears. This building is amongst the most perfect examples of Roman constructive science at the height of its development. Unlike the flat -roofed basilicas supported by arcades or ranges of columns, it is constructed with a few massive piers of concrete sufficient in number to sustain the concentrated thrust of the concrete vaults. As originally designed by Maxentius, the basilica had its fagade to the E., where was a narrow vestibule across the whole width of the building with five entrances into the main building, three into the central nave terminated by a wide ^ The rise of the ground-level may be measured by observing the foundations of the mediaeval building with an arcaded front to the E. of the chapel of Romuhis. v.] THE SACRED WAY 70 apse, and one into each aisle. In the centre of the nave were four huge piers, dividing the hall into three large bays, roofed with quadripartite vaulting, the groins of which sprang from eight monoliths of Hymettus marble. The last of these was removed by Paul V to the Piazza of S. Maria Maggiore. The aisles had three bays corresponding with those of the nave, which were roofed with barrel- vaults and divided by walls pierced with arches ; the three northern bays are well preserved, so that some idea can be formed of the means by which the weight of the roofs was so distributed amongst the supporting piers and walls that the whole building was self-contained and needed no external buttresses. This marks the triumph of Roman architec- ture, and the result was only made possible by the combined qualities of lightness and rigidity possessed by pozzolana concrete. The design of the Basilica — though not its structural character — was altered by Constantine, who made the principal entrance in the middle of the S. side. This was approached from the Sacred Way by a flight of steps leading to a portico of porphyry columns, and it was faced by a semicircular apse, as wide as that at the W. end, in the middle of the N. side, so that the aspect of the building was that of three parallel halls from whichever side it was entered. Of its decoration nothing remains save a small portion of the marble pavement, made of slabs of green porphyry and coloured marbles, and part of the coffered ceiling, whose stucco mouldings may be studied in the large fragments which lie on the floor of the basilica near its W. end. The roof was reached by spiral staircases in the walls (which were six metres in thickness), and one of these — to the N. of the western apse — has recently been cleared for some distance. As we ascend the Sacred Hill we see facing us the church of S. Francesca Romana, which has taken the place of the Temple of Venus and Rome, built to the design of Hadrian on an artificial platform ^ raised on substructures of ^ The Velia had been occupied by the vestibule of the Golden House of Nero, and a colossal statue of that Emperor in gilded 8o THE SACRED WAY [v; concrete once faced with travertine, which are well seen at the eastern extremity, opposite the Colosseum. The platform was approached by marble steps, a few of which was pre- served on the western front. Some game-boards, like those of the Basilica Julia, and the figures of a gladiator, racehorse, and Centaur are scratched upon them. The precinct was surrounded by a colonnade double at the ends and single at the sides, formed by columns of red and grey granite, some fragments of which may still be seen. In the centre of the precinct was the great double temple, raised on a platform of seven steps : it had ten columns (of cipollino) in the front and twenty in each side, and space was left free, sufficient for an inner peristyle, between the columns and the walls of the cellcp. Of these there were two, placed back to back ; that which faced the Forum was (probably) dedicated to "Eternal Rome," the other to "Venus the Giver of Prosperity." The latter is better preserved : not only the great apse with its coffered semi-dome, but part of the S. wall may be seen. The brickfaced concrete was entirely covered with costly marbles, and there were rows of porphyry columns supporting an entablature in front of each wall. Two frag- ments of relief, one in the Lateran Museum (p. 231) and one in the Museo delle Terme (p. 217), are supposed to belong to- gether and to represent the western pediment. Mars and Rhea Silvia, the Wolf and Twins and the Shepherds, appear on the fragment of the Museo delle Terme. At the S.W. corner of the platform, stands the Arch of Titus, erected in commemoration of the suppression of the Jewish revolt and the fall of Jerusalem in a.d. 70, but not completed until after the death of Titus in A.D. 81, as is shown by the inscription on the attic, which records its dedi- cation "to the Divine Titus," and by the figure of the Emperor carried to heaven on the wings of an eagle, sculptured in the bronze by a Greek artist, Zenodorus, stood on the site of the Campanile of S. Francesca Romana. Vespasian removed the portrait head of Nero and replaced it by an image of the Sun ; Hadrian caused the Colossus to be removed by twenty-four elephants to a spot nearer the Colosseum, where its base may be seen. v.] THE SACRED WAY 8* centre of the ceiling of the archway. The arch stands upon the pavement of the Sacre4 Hill, and it has been suggested that it was originally set up further to the N., and was moved by Hadrian when he built the Temple of Venus and Rome. In the Middle Ages it formed a part of the fortress built by the Frangipani, and suffered serious damage ; a floor was constructed in the middle of the archway, and the reliefs were hacked away in order that joists might be inserted. The level of the passage, too, was lower than in ancient times, and the traces of damage done by the traffic to the travertine foundations are plain. In 1821, when the last traces of the medii«val fortification were removed, it was found that the piers were in a dangerous state, and they were accordingly restored by A^aladier in travertine, which the eye readily distinguishes from the original marble. The arch is one of the simplest in its scheme, and yet the most effective of Roman triumphal arches : that of Trajan at Beneventum is very similar to it in plan and proportion, but is overloaded with decoration. The capitals of the engaged columns at the angles of the piers are the earliest examples of the Composite order, so called because the acanthus foliage of the Corinthian is combined with the volutes of the Ionic. On the keystones are sculptured an armed female figure, and a male divinity holding a Cornucopia : these are generally interpreted as Rome and the Genius of the Roman people, but in reality they re- present a pair of deities worshipped by the army — Virtus (Manliness) and Honos (Honour). But the main interest of the monument belongs to the reliefs of the passage-way. That on the N. side portrays Titus in his triumphal car, accompanied by horsemen and lictors : he is crowned by Victory, and the bridles of the horses are held by Rome herself. On the S. side we see the procession approaching an arch represented in perspective, probably that which gave access to the Capitoline piazza : the treasures of the Temple of Jerusalem — the table of shewbread, the seven- branched candlestick and the golden trumpets— are being carried on stretchers. ' But the reliefs have more than 82 THE SACRED WAY [v. historical importance. It has been recognised that they mark a definite stage in the history of art. In Greek rehefs the background was always treated as though it were a blank wall, in front of which the figures stand, until in Hellenistic times some attempt was made to introduce the natural features of landscape which more properly belong to the sister art of painting. The problem which Greek artists had attacked only in late times and with imperfect success is here solved by the Roman sculptor, who contrives to produce the illusion of a scene taking place in the open air — as though a window had been thrown open in the solid marble. Such is the famous criticism passed by Wickhoff on these reliefs. In some details of his argument he is wrong. It is not true, for example, that the natural play of light and shadow was ingeniously provided for in order to heighten the illusion, for it is inevitable that some cf the shadows thrown by the figures in the foreground should fall on the wall and destroy to some extent the open-air impression : but it is none the less true that spatial illusion is achieved in a manner hitherto unexampled in ancient sculpture. From the Arch of Titus the ancient roadway leads up to the Palatine, which cannot, however, be entered from this side, as it was in antiquity by the Porta Mugonia. We know that the Temple of Jupiter Stator, the " Stayer of the rout," who, according to legend, checked the victorious advance of the Latins at this point in response to the prayers of Romulus. To the S.E. of the Arch of Titus are the foundations of a temple upon which in the Middle Ages the Torre Cartularia (Tower of Archives) was built. These may well have belonged to the Temple of Jupiter Stator in its latest form : it is thought that some early foundations of tufa which have been exposed immediately to the E. of the arch are those of the original sanctuary. On the W. side of the road, which now leads directly up to the Palatine, are other early foundations of tufa, together with a few blocks of travertine belonging to the super- structure ; these may perhaps have been those of the Temple of the Lares, which we know to have stood " at the v.] THE SACRED WAY 83. highest point of the Sacred Way," and the excavations,which have been carried to a considerable depth in this region, have brought to light the remains of a Republican house with a number of small rooms and passages. The traces of its wall-paintings which remain are noticeable on account of their Dionysiac emblems. The approach to the Palatine by the Sacred Hill is now blocked ; but we may turn to the R. along the line of the Nova Via or " New Street," which skirted the slope of the hill. Here, again, the true level of the ancient pavement, which had been buried in mediaeval times, has only been recovered in recent years. Above us on the left are the substructures of the Imperial Palace, whose arcades extended across the lower part of the street (which passes behind the upper floor of the House of the Vestals) and made it into a tunnel. In the sunless chambers of this huge barrack-like structure were housed the army of slaves and dependents attached to the Imperial Court. There is a stairway by which we can descend to the House of the Vestals ; at a short distance beyond this the road is blocked by the Chapel of the Forty Martyrs. From this point the inclined way mentioned above led in ancient times past the back of the precinct of Juturna to the Forum : to the left is the zigzag ramp which leads down to the church of S. Maria Antiqua and up to the higher levels of the Palatine. The entrance to the latter is closed on week-days. VI THE PALATINE r T T has been explained above (p. 5) that the Palatine L X ^^i^^ was, according to legend, the site of the earliest settlement of the Latin stock in Rome. The name which it bore— Palatium— is connected with that of the shepherd's divinity, Pales, and seems to have been properly applied only to the eastern half of the hill, which was separated by a depression running from N.E. to S.W. from the western half, known as the Cermalus, The legends relating to the foundation of the Palatine city are all connected with the south=western angle of the hill. Here it was that the basket which contained the twins, Romulus and Remus, was washed ashore by the Tiber at the spot where grew the Sacred f\g=tree—/icus ruminalis — afterwards miraculously transplanted to the Comitium. Here, too, was the Lupercal — the lair of the she'=wolf who suckled the twins ; and above it was the hut of the shepherd, Paustulus, who became the foster-father of Romulus and Remus, and the ** house of Romulus'' itself. The Auguratorium, or platform upon which Romulus stood to take the auspices, and the cherry-tree which sprang from the lance which he hurled from the Aventine, were also in this region. These hallowed sites were carefully preserved from desecration — the sanc- tuary of the Lupercal, for instance, was restored by Augustus, and although it is not possible to identify the remains dis- covered in modern times with any of them, it is scarcely an accident that the most ancient structures yet found upon the hill are to be seen near this angle. 84 VI.] THE PALATINE 85 During the Republican period the Palatine became a fashionable residential quarter, especially upon the slopes which everlooked the Forum and Velabrum. Here was the house of Cicero, which had once belonged to Livius Drusus, the champion of the Italian allies, and afterwards to the orator M. Licinius Crassus : here, too, lived Cicero's grea rival at the bar, Hortensius, and his bitterest enemy, Clodius The Emperor Augustus was born in the street of " the ox heads," near the north-eastern corner : and there is still pre served a house which may have been inherited by his con sort Livia from her first husband,. Tiberius Claudius Nero Temples, again, such as that of the Great Mother of the Gods and of Jupiter the Victorious, were built, chiefly on the southern side of the hill, and some remains of them may yet be traced. Under the Empire practically the whole of the hill ex- cept those parts which were hallowed by tradition or by the presence of temples was converted into an Imperial resi- dence. The process was begun by Augustus, who, after the murder of Julius Caesar, bought the house which had be- longed to the orator Hortensius, and gradually enlarged it by the purchase of adjoining property. This residence was, however, burnt in 23 B.C. and rebuilt on a more magnificent scale, partly by funds publicly subscribed. There are no certain remains of the palace of Augustus now in existence : as will be seen, the Flavian state-rooms rest upon the ruins of earlier buildings, occupying the central depression of the hill, but we cannot be sure that these belong to the house of Augustus, which seems to have been burnt in the great fire ot A.D. 64. Tiberius built a fresh palace on the western edge of the hill, which Caligula temporarily connected with the Capitol by a huge bridge resting on the Temple of Augustus and the Basilica Julia as its piers : this was of course de- stroyed after his murder. We do not hear of buildings erected by Nero on the Palatine itself— his Golden House extended across the Velia to the slope of the Esquiline — but the great suite of state-rooms which extends across the cen- tral part of the hill is the work of the Flavian dynasty, most 86 THE PALATINE [vi. probably of Domitian, to whom we may also ascribe the partially excavated building immediately to the E. of these, as well as the so-called Stadium in its original form. The Imperial residence was again enlarged by Hadrian, whose additions to the palace of Tiberius were carried on arches across the Nova Via till they adjoined the Houseof the Vestals : he also built largely to the E. of the " Stadium." Finally, Septimius Severus raised a mighty structure at the S. E. corner of the hill, building partly on the palace of Hadrian, partly on an artificial platform carried on high arches. The Septizodium, whose remains might still be seen in the sixteenth century, formed a monumental fagade on this side of the palace. No further extension of the Imperial residence was now possible, for the N.E. part of the hill was occupied by the temple and precinct of Apollo, built by Augustus to the divinity who presided over the fortunes of the Imperial house, in which were kept the Sibylline books : and the Area Palatina^ or Palatine piazza, to which the Sacred Hill led up from the Forum, was always kept free from buildings.] The entrance to the Palatine excavations is in the Via di San Teodoro, close to the church of that name. The street follows the line of the Vicus Tuscus, or Street of the Etruscans, already mentioned in the description of the Forum, which led into the Velabrum, a place of traffic and merchandise, whose name is perpetuated in that of the church of S. Giorgio in Velabro. We find ourselves on a road which slopes gradually upward from the S.W. to the N.W. angle of the hill. This road corre- sponds fairly closely with the course of the ancient ** Hill of Victory" {clivus Victoria:), which was so named from the Temple of Victory, which was built in 294 B.C., but was tradi- tionally declared to be earlier than the time of Romulus. The Porta Romana, or "Gate of Rome," which, according to Varro, was the only entrance to the Palatine city, except the Porta Mugonia, on the side of the Velia (p. 83), is said to have VI.] THE PALATINE , 87 been "at the bottom of the Hill of Victory"; and if this statement be taken literally, we must infer that the defences of the primitive settlement ran, not along the top of the hill, but partly at least around its base. It was not an un- common practice in early times to build a gateway in such Nova Via T) Entrance Teodoro o • Addirions to 'alac» of Tibenua T.ber Temple of "0 Area Palahna Flav Roor Precinct of Apollo Mills THE PALATINE of Sephimius Severns a position that if the enemy effected an entrance, he might yet be enfiladed on the right side whilst ascending a slope ; and this principle may well have been applied here. More- over, the line of the primitive Pomerium of Rome, the course of which is carefully described for us by the historian Tacitus, followed that of the valleys which surround the Palatine ; its southern angles were marked by the altar of 88 THE PALATINE [vi. Hercules, which was near the church of S. Maria in Cosmedin (p. 266), and the altar of Consus, at the E. end of the Circus Maximus (p. 257). The memory of this ancient boundary was kept alive by the curious ceremony of the Lupercalia, celebrated on the 15th of February, when the college of priests called Luperci, dressed only in goat- skins and brandishing leathern thongs, with which they struck the passers-by, ran round the line of the pomerium. It does not, however, necessarily follow from this fact that the base of the hill was put into a state of defence ; for the pomerium was an ideal boundary — a sacred strip of land on either side of the furrow traced by the founder's plough in the ritual prescribed for the planting of a new settlement, whereas the line of defence must have been determined by practical necessity. As we pass along the western slope of the hill, which is faced by huge walls of concrete dating from the Early Empire, we see on our L. some remains of early tufa masonry, which may perhaps have belonged to the Temple of Victory itself, though there is no proof of the fact. Somewhat nearer to the S.W. angle of the hill we come to a well-preserved piece of wall, which is very similar in its construction to the " Servian " wall as it may be seen near the railway station, the blocks of brown tufa being laid in alternate courses of headers and stretchers. At the angle itself we can see not only a piece of the same wall, which here serves as backing to the later concrete, but a few courses of an earlier wall, made of smaller blocks, which are of a grey-green colour. This variety of tufa is called cappellaccio, and does not seem to have been quarried on the Palatine itself, from which the brown tufa used in later times was dug. The earlier wall cannot be dated with any certainty : in style and material it resembles the earliest buildings on Roman soil, such as those in the Comitium (p. 53), but it is misleading to speak of it as the "wall of Romulus," if the name be taken to imply that it formed part of the primitive defences of the Palatine settlement. The outer wall so closely resembles the "Servian" walls VI.] THE PALATINE 89 of the fourth century that we can hardly be wrong in assign- ing it to that date. It would seem to follow that the Palatine (like the Capitol, see p. 354) formed an inner citadel within the lines of fortification which surrounded Rome. Passing round the corner of the hill we notice on the L. of the road an altar of travertine bearing an inscription which tells us how it was restored by C. Sextius Calvinus as praetor (probably about 100 B.C.), and was dedicated "to God or Goddess, whichever it be." It has been suggested that this was the altar set up in commemoration of the mysterious voice which warned the Romans of the approach of the Gauls, but there is no ground for the conjecture ; that altar was dedicated to Aius Locuiius, " the being who spake and uttered," and must have stood at some distance from this spot. We now climb by a winding path to the top of the hill and find ourselves on the edge of the central depression. Turning back towards the S.W. angle we pass the foundations of a large temple approached by flights of steps. This was probably the Temple of Jupiter Victor, dedicated after the battle of Sentinum (295 B.C.) by the dictator Q. Fabius Maximus. A little farther on we reach the edge of a slope overlooking the excavations of recent years, which have brought to light a mass of constructions, some of them of early date, which are ex- tremely difficult of comprehension. Immediately below us a narrow road enclosed by walls of tufa leads towards the edge of the hill, showing traces of a gateway and a flight of steps cut in the rock. These may be identified with the Scalae Caci^ or ♦* Stairs of Cacus," named after an ancient Italian fire-god, who became in later mythology a robber, whose cave was at the base of the cliff and who was slain by Hercules. Just below the steps a cross street diverges to the west ; the buildings on either side of this were largely constructed with the tufa blocks taken from earlier structures. In the angle formed by this street and the Stairs of Cacus may be seen the remains of early buildings and some circular pits and channels cut in the rock, which 90 THE PALATINE [vi. have been explained either as the remains of early dwel- lings or as primitive tombs. The potsherds found at the same level are nearly all of the same character as the vases from the necropolis by the Sacred Way ; but one tomb was discovered containing a Greek vase of the fourth century B.C., and this lay beneath a piece of tufa walling bearing mason's marks similar to those of the " Servian" walls. At the top of the road leading down to the " Stairs of Cacus" will be seen a cross-wall constructed in masonry of various periods — one piece at the eastern end is in the early type, which we met with at the angle of the hill, formed of small blocks of cappellaccio. Above this cross- wall are the foundations (in tufa) of a sanctuary which cannot be identified ; it may have marked one of the holy sites such as the house of Romulus. The east wall cuts through a very early cistern, built with a kind of corbelled vault formed by overlapping blocks of tufa and lined with cement. Another cistern constructed with upright slabs of tufa held in place by a backing of rammed clay may be seen to the W. of the sanctuary just mentioned. All these indications point to the fact that a very early settlement — perhaps the earliest on the Palatine — existed at this corner of the hill. We also see the concrete foundations of two temples ; the smaller of these cannot be identified, but the larger, upon which evergreen oaks and cypresses have been planted, was that of Cybele, the Great Mother of the Gods, whose worship was introduced into Rome in 204 B.C., when her fetish, a conical black stone, was brought from Pessinus in Galatia in obedience to the injunctions of the Sibylline books. Beside the podium will be seen part of a colossal seated figure representing the goddess, and some fragmentary columns oi peperino. If these are examined, it will be noticed that the stucco with which the unsightly material was covered adheres to them in places, and also that more than one coat can be traced, showing that the mouldings were restored from time to time. We know in fact that the temple was restored in iii B.C. and also by Augustus. The platform in front of the temple, where the VI.] THE PALATINE 91 Liidi Megalenses, or "games of the Great Goddess," were celebrated in April, was approached by a flight of steps with wings, of which portions remain. The high platform to the N. of the temples is that upon which the Palace of Tiberius stood ; but before we ascend it, we turn down a covered passage leading into the courtyard of a house upon which three rooms open. This part of the house is at a lower level than the rooms to the E., which were connected with it by a narrow staircase and corridor, now blocked. It is thought that the eastern portion was the fore-part of the house ; in that case the courtyard could not rightly he described as an atrium^ for this name properly belongs to the forecourt of a Roman dwelling. But it is not quite certain that the house really fronted eastward, and the court with three rooms opening upon it in any case gives a good impression of what a Roman atrium was like. The central room to the E. corresponds with the tablinum^ or "office," and the side-rooms may be called the alae^ or " wings," though this term should rather be apphed to side- chambers projecting from the court. These rooms preserve considerable traces of their original decoration in fresco, which is typical of that generally employed in the houses of 'the wealthy at the close of the Republic and beginning of the Imperial period. The style is that described by archaeologists as "architectural," in which perspectives of painted architecture are introduced in order to give an illu- sion of surrounding space. The most interesting and char- acteristic are those on the R. wall of the central room. All the central portion of this wall appears to be covered with a kind of screen with free columns, an architrave and pediment, beneath which is a large panel, on which is painted lo seated at the foot of a column crowned by a statue of Hera. To the R. is Hermes (whose name is painted beside him in Greek characters) ; to the left Argus, the sleepless watchman set to guard lo. Is this scene to be regarded as a picture framed by the screen, or as a view of outer space ? We could scarcely answer this question were it not that the wall paintings of the buried cities'and villas 92 THE PALATINE [vi. of Campania, such as Pompeii and Bosco Reale, enable us to trace the evolution of this style of decoration. Origin- ally the intention of the artist was solely to give to the be- holder the illusion of an outlook into surrounding space. Mythological subjects were not represented, but a rustic shrine or temple made a fitting centre for the design. Then the decorator became more ambitious, and subjects taken from, or inspired by, the higher art of the time were put in the place of prominence, and the rest of the design was sub- ordinated to them ; the tricks of illusory perspective-paint- ing became of small importance. They were not, however, given up : observe that at the sides of the screen we are given an outlook upon streets and buildings which it would be hard to bring into relation with the central group. We shall see other examples of this style of decoration in the Museo delle Terme (p. 216). The other wall-paintings of the house are also worthy of attention. On the centre of the back wall of the tabH?tti7n we see Qalatea carried across the sea by a hippocamp, with the disconsolate Polyphemus on the shore ; but this- has been in great part obliterated. The decorations of. the side rooms are simpler, but not less effective, especially that of the room on the R., which has a painted colonnade hung with festoons of flowers and fruit, as well as masks and Dionysiac symbols. On the right-hand of the court is the entrance to a chamber described — probably rightly — in the inscription over the entrance as the triclinium or dining-room. The wall-paintings in this transport us into an imaginary landscape with rustic shrines, and thus illus- trate the growth of the " architectural " style explained above out of a simpler scheme of decoration. There are several rooms, grouped about a court with a staircase in the midst, at the back of those described. They are connected with the atrium by a narrow staircase, now blocked, and can only be entered from the higher level on which they stand. It is doubtful whether this was really the front of the house (see above). It is clear that this house was carefully preserved when VI.] THE PALATINE 93 other buildings in its neighbourhood were destroyed to make room for the imperial palaces ; and this may be explained if we identify it as the House of Livia, the consort of Augustus, inherited by her from her first husband, Tiberius Claudius Nero. In one of the rooms may be seen an ancient lead pipe bearing the inscription : ivliae avg {ustae), and the name is probably that of Livia, who was adopted into the Julian family. The house has also been identified with the " House of Germanicus," in which some of the murderers of Caligula took refuge ; but this is mere guesswork. We return to the passage which skirts the platfortai of the Palace of Tiberius. This was originally a covered cor- ridor, or cryptoporticus^ and those portions of the roof which are extant still preserve traces of decoration in gilded and painted stucco. In this corridor Caligula was murdered by the officers of the praetorian guard who had conspired against him on January 24, A.D. 41. To the left a flight of steps leads up to the top of the platform now occupied by the Farnese gardens, and it is worth while to walk as far as the N.W. corner of the hill in order to enjoy the view of the Capitol, Forum, etc. We are told that Caligula connected this palace with the Capitol by means of a colossal bridge, using the Temple of Augustus (p. 65) and the Basihca Julia (p. 49) as piers, and making the Temple of Castor and Pollux (p. 64) into its vestibule ; and" it is easy to understand his plan from the point which we have reached. The bridge was destroyed after Caligula's murder, -but later emperors — probably the Flavians and Hadrian — exteijjded the palace at its northern end, raising an artificial {)latform on arches and vaults. This edge of the hill had up till this time been covered with private jiouses, amongst others that of Cicero, which Pliny mentions as still existing in his day. Below us we can see two streets — the upper is the continua- tion of the Hill of Victory, the lower the Nova Via— both of 1 which were arched over by the substructures of the later I palace. Returning towards the centre of the hill we ap- ' broach the remains of the great state-rooms which occupy ft 94 THE PALATINE [vi. the central depression ; these may also be reached by a branch of the covered corridor already mentioned. These state-rooms are generally known as the Domus Flavia, or "house of the Flavians," but there is no ancient authority for this name, and though there is reason to think that they were built by the emperors of that dynasty, they certainly formed only a part of a great palace which, as inscriptions show, was called the Domus Augustana, or "house of Augustus," the name being used generically for "the Emperor." On the north the state-rooms were faced by a portico of cipollino columns, which also extended for some distance along the sides. The bases of these may be seen, and at the N.W. angle a column of travertine patched with cipollino has been set up. Behind the portico were three rooms : the central of these, which was much the largest, is generally called the throne-room, since at the southern end there was an apse in which the Emperor's throne stood. There were also niches, which once contained colossal statues of basalt, in the side-walls, and columns of pavonaz- zetio^ about twenty-five feet high, stood at intervals all round the walls. The room was roofed with a barrel-vault, coffered and gilded. To the west of this is a room known as the basilica, and believed to have been the hall in which the Emperor dispensed justice. There are in fact traces of a tribunal in the apse at the S. end, and of a marble screen by which it was railed off ; and along each side of the room was a row of granite columns which carried galleries and divided the hall into a nave and aisles. There is thus a striking resemblance to the plan of a Christian basilica, and the theory that the plan of such buildings was derived from that of this and similar halls of justice, though it has provoked much criticism in recent years, has much to commend it. Like the early Christian basilicas, this hall was originally roofed with timber, but in late times a concrete vault was constructed and massive piers added for its support. To the east of the throne-room is a chamber somewhat smaller than the basilica, in which was found an altar (now VI.] THE PALATINE 95 destroyed) approached by a flight of steps. For this reason it has been called the Lararium, or chapel of the House- hold Gods. Behind it are smaller rooms from which a stair- case led to an upper floor. We next pass to the Central Court or Peristyle, once sur- rounded by a colonnade, whose columns were oi portasanta^ with bases and capitals of white marble, surmounted by an open gallery with columns of porphyry and granite. To the west of it are a series of small ante-rooms, and there were probably others symmetrically planned on the opposite side which is as yet unexcavated. In the peristyle is a flight of steps leading down to the remains of a house which was incorporated in the foundations of the Flavian palace. Remains of its painted ceilings may still be seen, since it was left intact except for the massive foundation-walls of concrete which cut through it. The process by which such concrete was laid, described on p. i6, may easily be under- stood if we examine these walls ; the traces of the frame- work of beams and planks into which the fluid mass was run are evident. In the eighteenth century much finer remains of earlier rooms were found under the northern part of the palace, especially the basilica, and it is not unlikely that part at least of this space was occupied by the house of Augustus. Beyond the peristyle is a large apartment identified as the state banqueting-room, triclinium or cenaiio lovis, as it is called in the Historia Augusta. At the south end was an apse, which may have contained the Emperor's dining-table. Some traces of the sumptuous decoration in coloured marble with which the whole of the palace was enriched may be seen in this room. The pavement of the apse, which is formed of slabs of porphyry and coloured marbles, is in part well preserved. To the west of the triclinium is a Nymphaeum, in the centre of which we see the oval base of a fountain^ whose miniature cascades flowed into the sur- ■ rounding channel. The room also contains niches for statues, and was no doubt decorated with flowers and filled with birds. A similar fountain existed on the east side of H^ triclinium and is buried under the Villa Mills. Passing 96 THE PALATINE [vi. out of the triclinium at the corner we find ourselves on a platform to the S. of which were two halls with curved ends, the use of which is uncertain. They have been named the "Academy" and "Library." The platform rests partly on tufa foundations and we can descend into a subterranean corridor running between the Flavian building and the Temple of Jupiter already mentioned, and leading to tufa- quarries of early date. Returning to the Lararium (see above), we may pass through a gate into the Villa Mills, which until quite recently was used as a convent, and was therefore in- accessible to visitors. In this region were the dwelling- rooms of the Domus Augustana^ which still for the most part await excavation. This part of the palace had two storeys, and some walls belonging to the upper floor are in- corporated in the convent. Here, too, were discovered in 1907 faint traces of Christian frescoes which seem to point to this as the site of the Chapel of S. Cesareo " in Palatio," built by the Byzantine exarchs. From the grounds of the Villa fine views may be seen, especially on the eastern edge near the monastery of S. Bonaventura ^ (whose solitary palm is one of the landmarks of Rome), and also to the S. on the brow of the slope facing the Aventine. Behind the convent building is a staircase leading down to the only portion of the Domus Augustana as yet excavated — a court upon which open three rooms, two of which are octagonal in shape. The rooms surrounding the court were excavated in the eighteenth century, but their remains were either destroyed or reburied. In the E. wall of the court — roughly stuccoed in imitation of marble pannelling — will be found a passage which, as the marks on its walls clearly show, occupies the site of a staircase connecting the two floors of the palace. Throug^h this we pass in to the build- ing commonly known as the Stadium. It was natural to ^ Beyond S. Bonaventura is the church of S. Sebastiano, which stands on the site of the great Temple of Apollo, built by Augustus in commemoration of the victory of Actium, and as yet unexcavated. \i.J THE PALATINE 97 see in this circus-like structure an Imperial race-course ; but there is little doubt that it is in reality the hippodromus Palatii of which we hear in ancient authorities, and further that the name hippodromus signifies, not a race-course, as might naturally be thought, but a formal garden of that shape. This garden was originally laid out by Domitian on the eastern side of his palace, and later emperors— prob- ably Hadrian and Septimius Severus — altered its aspect by adding the portico in two stories and the large semicircular exedra to the E. The lower arcades of the portico were carried by piers and half-columns of brickwork faced with fluted slabs oi portasanta; the fragments of cipollino shafts which lie in the centre of the open space belonged to the columns of the upper storey. Under the large apse are three rooms with faint traces of frescoes. In the southern half of the Stadium may be seen a large oval basin of brickwork, built on foundations in which chips of coloured marble, belonging to the original decoration of the building, are largely used. This fact would suffice to show that the basin is of late date, and the brick-stamps found therein show that it was the work of Theodoric the Ostrogoth (493- 526). Its use is quite uncertain. The ruins of the Stadium were plundered in the sixteenth century, but a few of the statues which adorned it escaped discovery, and were brought to light in the latter part of the nineteenth century. One — a seated female figure commonly called a " Muse," a replica of which is in the cloister of the Museo delle Terme — has been left in a recess at the N. end of the Stadium. Between the exedra and the N.E. corner is a staircase which leads to the level of the upper gallery of the Stadium ; from the top of this staircase we may turn to the right, and pass- ing behind the exedra^ enter the remains of the Palace of Septimius Severus, built partly upon a suite of chambers added by Hadrian on the E. side of the Stadium, and partly upon a huge platform carried by arcades. Little can now be seen of the building of Severus except some bathrooms, whose walls contain the flues used for warming their atmo- sphere ; but it is well worth while to cross the bridge which H 98 THE PALATINE [vi. leads to the outer arcades and walk to the S.E. end of the platform for the sake of the view. Not far off, near the angle of the Palatine, once stood the Porta Capena, in the " Servian " wall, by which the Via Appia issued from the city ; and in order to impress the traveller approaching Rome from the S. with a sense of his magnificence, Severus built, as a fagade to his palace, the Septizodium (or Septi- zonium), the last traces of which were destroyed by Sixtus V in 1589. The form of this strange building was that of three semicircular niches, flanked by towers and faced with tiers of columns. It has been supposed that there were seven of these, forming seven " zones," which symbolised the spheres of the seven planets ; and as Severus was a firm believer in astrology, some such symbolism was un- doubtedly present. But the correct form of the name seems to have been Septizodium, or the House of the Seven "Zodia," i.e. the planets, which implies nothing as to its architectural design. Probably it had only three storeys. Recrossing the bridge and descending by a staircase to the lower level, we return to the S. entrance of the Stadium, and thence take a sloping path along the edge of the hill. Above us on the right may be traced the outline of a curved balcony from which the Imperial party could watch the games in the Circus Maximus. That this does not date from the time of Augustus himself (as has often been sup- posed) is proved by the fact that, as Suetonius tells us, he used to watch the chariot-races from the upper floors of his friends' houses on the southern slope of the Palatine, as yet unoccupied by Imperial buildings. We soon come to a series of rooms on the righf hand, grouped about a semicircular recess, and faced by a portico of Corinthian columns, all of which save one have been replaced by brick piers. The walls in these chambers are covered with sketches and signatures drawn in the plaster with the stilus. The most famous is the supposed carica- ture of the Crucifixion, removed hence in 1857 to the Museo Kircheriano (p. 179). This building is generally known as the psedagogium, or training-school for the Imperial pages, VI.] THE PALATINE 99 on the ground that amongst the graffiti we find such as Coriiithus exit de pcudagogio. But it is known that the pcEdagogium was situated on the C^lian, and it is therefore more Hkely that these inscriptions were scratched on the walls by pages recently transferred to the Imperial palace. It has been suggested (with less likelihood) that the rooms were in reality used for the incarceration of refractory pages, and that '"'' padagogium " was a slang term. This completes the circuit of the extant remains of the Palatine, and we return past the altar of the Unknown God to the entrance. At the foot of the slope adjoining the circus were residences assigned to Imperial officials. One of these, which adjoins the " Paedagogium," was partly excavated in 1888, but is not accessible to visitors. It has been identified with the domus Gelotiana, acquired by Caligula on account of his passion for the chariot-races of the circus ; but there is no ground for this supposition. There are considerable remains of ancient constructions beneath the church of S. Anastasia, at the S.W. angle of the Palatine, which may be seen by permission of the authorities of the church. VII. THE CAPITOL f'nr^HE name Capitolium properly belongs only to the [_ J_ southernmost peak of the hill which, though now separated from the Quirinal by the valley in which Trajan's forum stood (p. 155), was originally connected with that height by a low saddle. The northern summit (now crowned by the church of S. Maria in Araceli) was known as the arx or " citadel." In the depression between the two peaks (now the Ficizza. del Campidoglio) Romulus, as the story ran, founded the " Asylum," or place of refuge for outlaws and " broken men," who formed so large a part of his new community ; but the hill was not included in the earliest city, and it was not until the fusion of the Palatine and Quirinal settlements (p. 7) that it was chosen to be the citadel of the new Rome and the seat of its chief worship. This was the Temple of Jupiter, the Best and Greatest, the God whom the Latin allies of Rome worshipped on the Alban mount. To the first of the Etruscan kings of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus, is ascribed the building not only of the temple of Jupiter Latiaris on the Alban Mount, but also of that of Jupiter the best and greatest, together with the two female divinities, Juno and Minerva, who made up the triad characteristic of Etruscan theology, on the Capitol. Its dedication was, however, reserved for the first consul of Republican Rome, and was dated Sep. 13, 509 B.C. It was the sole example in Rome of a temple in purely "Tuscan" style (p. 25), with its three parallel ce//(S faced by a deep portico consisting of a triple row of columns. VII.] THE CAPITOL loi The form was preserved at 6arh ■'suQce95si^'C'e'-rf?st:ca-4t'f)r^ (Ice below, p. 133 f.), and copied (more or less faithfully) in the " Capitolia " set up in the colonies of the Latinised western provinces. Some remains of the original substructures are to be seen in the garden of the German Embassy (Palazzo Caffarelli), and it has been found possible to determine approximately the dimensions of the temple, which measured about 204 by 188 feet. The platform upon which the temple stood was called the Area Capitolina, and was like- wise supported on early substructures, some traces of which are visible in the Palazzo dei Conservatori (seep. 146). It was coextensive with the southern peak, and at the angle nearest the Tiber was the Tarpeian rock, from which criminals were hurled. The sheer cliffs may be seen at various points, especially in the garden of the " Casa Tarpea" (Via di Monte Tarpeo 25). Traces of fortifications, both of early date and of the "Servian" style, exist at various points, e.g. in the Via delle Tre Pile, the winding road by which carriages ascend to the Piazza del Cam- pidoglio. Nothing is left of the temple of Juno Moneta (" the Warner ") which stood on the Arx. The Capitol was approached from the Forum by the Clivus Capitolinus, the line of which is marked by the Porticus Deorum Consentium (see above, p. 49) and the S. wall of the Tabularium. There were also flights of steps— the "hundred steps" near the Tarpeian rock, and the Scalse Gemonias, or "stairway of sighs " which led down to the prison (p. 46) on the line of the Via dell' Arco di Settimio Severo : here the bodies of criminals, such as Sejanus and his family, or murdered emperors, like Vitellius, were exposed. The modern " cor- donata " by which the Piazza del Campidoglio is approached dates from the sixteenth century and is part of the .design of Michelangelo.] We climb this paved slope and find ourselves in the Piazza, with the Palazzo dei Conservatori upon our right, the Museo Capitolino on our left, and the Palazzo del Senatore, which rises above the ancient Tabularium, presently to be described, in front of us. In the Middle I02 THE CAPITOL [vii. Ages' the only relic of ancient art which stood here was the mutilated group of a lion devouring a horse, now in the Palazzo dei Conservator! (p. 141) which marked the place where death-sentences were promulgated at the head of a stairway leading to the entrance of the Palazzo del Senatore. Sixtus IV (1471-84) determined to form a collection of ancient works of art and to place them in the custody of the Conservatori, whose palace had been rebuilt by Nicholas V (1447-55). In the Papal palace of the Lateran were a number of bronzes, such as the She-wolf (p. 135), the Camillus (p. 144), and the Boy extracting a thorn (p. 144), which formed the nucleus of the collection, to which additions were made as new statues or fragments were brought to light, e.g. the fragments of a colossal statue, probably of Constantine the Great, now in the courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori. Roughly speaking, it may be said that the Papal Museum of the Belvedere (p. 270) inaugurated by Julius II (1503-13), acquired the master- pieces of art, whilst the Capitoline collection was enriched by monuments of historical significance. Michelangelo came to Rome in 1534, and was com- missioned to transform the piazza into an ensemble of buildings and monuments worthy of so august a site. His design took more than a century to execute, and suffered a few modifications in detail : the delay was due to lack of funds. In 1 538 the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius was removed from the Piazza of the Lateran to the site where it now stands. It owed its preservation to the belief that it represented the first Christian Emperor. We learn from a mediaeval pilgrim's guide-book that a small figure of a barbarian prince, with his hands bound behind his back, once lay beneath the raised forefoot of the horse. This is the only example of an Imperial Equestrian statue which has been preserved to us, and though not of the best period of art nor free from faults of execution, it admirably fulfils its monumental purpose. About 1550 the double staircase in front of the Palazzo del Senatore was completed, and at its foot were placed two recumbent figures of MI.] THE CAPITOL 103 river=gods which had stood throughout the Middle Ages upon the Quirinal, near the colossal Dioscuri (p. 196). Prob- ably they represented the Nile — symbolised by the Sphinx — and the Tigris : but the tiger which was the badge of this latter river was changed into a wolf by the restorer so as to typify the Tiber. Between them was afterwards placed a colossal statue of Athena, now in the Museo Capitolino (p. 105), for which was substituted at a later date the seated Athena of red porphyry, which was believed to represent the goddess Roma, and therefore provided with a pile of arms and armour and dubbed " Roma Trionfante." The balustrade which faces the Piazza Araceli was completed under Pius IV (1559-66), and from time to time adorned with ancient monuments. The two statues of the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux) at the head of the cordo7iata were discovered, as it would seem, in the Ghetto, and had doubt- less stood on either side of some monumental gateway. Michelangelo intended them to face each other, but when, after twenty years, they were restored by Valsoldo, they were placed in their present attitude. The first milestone of a Roman road, with an inscription recording its restora- tion by Vespasian and Nerva, and believed to be that of the Appian Way, was placed on the balustrade about 1580, and (in the nineteenth century) balanced by the seventh milestone of the same road, with a similar inscription. In 1590 the so-called ♦• Trophies of Marius'* were brought from the monumental fountain whose remains are still to be seen in the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele. The name by which they are popularly known dates from the Middle Ages ; it is more difficult to determine their true origin. On the one hand, the coins of Severus Alexander represent a fountain on the Esquiline called the " Nymphseum of Alexander," which resembles the remains above mentioned ; on the other, a quarry-mark on one of the blocks of marble of which the trophies are made is dated in Domitian's reign, and it is plausibly conjectured that an inscription seen by Petrarch and Poggio which records Domitian's victories on the Rhine aud Danube belonged to the monument. The I04 THE CAPITOL [vii. female figure who, with her two children, represents the conquered enemy on the trophy to the S. of the approach, is of German type, and Domitian's double triumph over the Chatti (in the Taunus) and Dacians (in Transylvania) celebrated in A.D. 89 may have been commemorated by the erection of this monument. Finally, under Innocent X (1644-55) two statues originally found in the ruins of the Baths of Constantine on the Quirinal, and representing that Emperor and his son Constantine II, were placed on the balustrade. They are interesting as specimens of Imperial statues executed in the decline of ancient art, stiff in pose, but not without monumental effect. The ■ Capitoline collection of antiquities was originally housed in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, and a considerable addition was made to it by Pius V, a bigoted reactionary, who on his election to the Papacy in 1566 presented the people of Rome with a large number of statues from the Belvedere and Vatican Gardens. The "New Palace," as the building to the N. of the Piazza was called, made but slow progress until the reign of Innocent X, under whom it was completed and adorned with a number of statues and busts from the older building. To the nucleus thus formed additions were made by later Popes, above all by Clement XI.I, who in 1733 purchased the collection of Cardinal Alessandro Albani, then in financial straits, and transferred it to the Museo Capitolino, as it was now called. Except for some statues presented by Benedict XIV (1740-58), the the later acquisitions of the museum have not been con- siderable. Several of the most important works were removed to Paris by Napoleon in accordance with the Treaty of Tolentino (1797), but nearly all were restored in 1 8 16 and placed in a special room. We pass through a corridor into a courtyard, and see in front of us a colossal recumbent river=god known throughout the Middle Ages as Marforio from the place where it stood ("Martis forum") near the Mamertine Prison, and famous from the fact that the answers to the satires of the " Pasquino" (p. 171) were attached to it. It was brought VII.] THE CAPITOL 105 to the Capitoline Piazza in the sixteenth century, and turned to its present use by Clement XII (whose bust may be seen above it) in 1734, when the two Pans from the Albani collection were placed on either side of it. These were discovered in the Piazza dei Satiri (to which they gave its name) and belonged to the decoration of Pompey's theatre (p. 168). On the R. of the court is a hall containing Egyptian sculptures, partly of the imitative kind produced in Rom under the Empire ; some of these were discovered in the sanctuary of I sis in the Campus Martins (p. 175). In the MarFono 1 1 L St-airca5e COURT ATRIO 1 ! ( 1 1 2 1 1 3 ENTRANCE i G I 1 1 MUStO CAPITOLINO - Ground Floor corridor, to the L., (4) is a colossal statue of Athena (cf. above, p. 103), which, though poor in execution, represents an Original of the period of Phidias ; it was originally armed with shield and spear. Farther on are two draped female figures (12 and 22), the effect of which is impaired by the heads which have been placed on them. They belong to the art of the period following the Persian wars, and illustrate the early progress of the Greeks towards the representation of the natural fall of drapery. A head in Berlin has been identified as that which belongs to the type. At the end of the corridor is (21) a fragment of a statue in pavonazzetto io6 THE CAPITOL [vii.. representing a barbarian, brought from the Arch of Con- stantine in 1733 (see p. 253). Here we turn to the L. and enter a room containing a few Christian monuments (fragments of sarcophagi, statue of the Good Shepherd, etc.) and (on the L. wall) a marble disc carved in low relief with scenes from the story of Achilles. In an inner room are a number of altars and gravestones, a few of which have Palmyrene inscriptions. The most interesting is the altar in the centre of the room, set up by members of the police-force attached to the horrea Qalbiana or ware- houses by the Tiber, with a beautiful bust (in relief) of the youthful Sun-god on the principal face. It has a Palmyrene inscription on the side upon which is figured a solar deity in a chariot, and on the back is carved a cypress tree from which the divinity Azizus springs in the form of a child. The altar is little later than the reign of Nero, and bears witness to the early introduction of Palmyrene cults into Rome. Returning to the corridor and passing the entrance we see on the L. (35) a figure of Polyphemus with one of the companions of Odysseus under his feet and a statue of Hadrian, to the R. (19) a colossal statue of Mars. The type is that of " Mars the Avenger," to whom Augustus dedicated the temple in his Forum (p. 152), and it seems to have been derived from that of a colossal statue of Ares set up in the Acropolis of Halicarnassus in the fourth century B.C. Here we turn through a door on the R. into a room containing a number of busts and heads (note No. 19, an athlete with straps passing round his head, sometimes wrongly described as Juba II of Mauretania, and No. 25, a head of Heracles reproducing a type created by Scopas) ; in the centre is a square base adorned with reliefs represent- ing the labours of Heracles in an "archaistic" style. In the next room, against the R. wall, is a fine sarcophagus representing a battle of Qauls and Greeks. To the Roman, no doubt, the scene recalled the wars of his own country with the Gauls : but the style and types used clearly point to the school of Pergamon which celebrated the VII.] THE CAPITOL 107 victories of Attalus I over the Gallic invaders of Asia Minor : on this see pp. 128 and 214. How popular these types were with Roman artists is shown by the fact that on the Column of Trajan the suicide of Decebalus (p. 163) is represented precisely as that of a Gallic chief on this sarcophagus. In the same room is the grave-monument of T. Statilius Aper, an architect and draughtsman, whose instruments are shown on the sides of the cippus. The boar at the feet of the figure alludes to his name (rtjzJ^r=boar). Passing into the third room we see a large sarcophagus, upon the lid of which are the figures of a man and woman recfining upon a cushion. These clearly belong to the early third century A.D., and were long believed to represent the Emperor Severus Alexander and his mother, Julia Mammaea. The sarcophagus was found in the Monte del Grano, an artificial tumulus near the Via Latina, and an unfounded tradition asserts that it contained the famous Portland Vase, now in the British Museum, the scenes of which were interpreted as symbolical of the birth of Severus Alexander. The body of the sarcophagus is decorated with scenes from the life of Achilles. On the front we have Achilles at the Court of Lycomedes, king of Scyrus, in the act of throwing ofT his woman's disguise on the arrival of Odysseus and Diomedes. The balance and symmetry of the coniposition, at either end of which is a seated king (Agamemnon and Lycomedes), are traditional, while the absence of neutral background and the violent contrast of light and shadow mark the later period of Roman art. On the sides we see the farewell of Achilles to Lycomedes and the arming of Achilles. Returning to the corridor we mount the Staircase. On the first landing, to the L. is a female portrait-statue of the "Pudicitia" type, on which see p. 324, to the R. a female divinity with the modern inscription IVNO lanumvina (i.e. Juno of Lanuvium). It is, however, very doubtful whether the statue was found at Lanuvium (Civitk Lavigna), and the type is rather that of an earth-goddess. The skin with which she is draped is that of a pig. At the head of the staircase we enter a Gallery and turn to the R. To our io8 THE CAPITOL [vii. L. (38) is a group of Heracles slaying the hydra, wrongly restored. The pose of Heracles shows that he was repre- sented with his knee upon the neck of the Keryn^ean stag. The hydra is the work of the sculptor Algardi (1602-54). Beside this group is placed another fragment, consisting of a leg and the coils of the hydra. The story runs that it was found after Algardi's restoration was complete : but it is probably not antique, and belonged to a restoration after- wards discarded. To the R. is (5) a statue of Eros (Cupid) bending his bow, copied from a bronze original, probably by Lysippus, charming in conception and treatment, though lacking in spiritual depth. Near this a door (r.) leads to the Room of the Doves, which takes its name from the mosaic on the wall opposite the windows found in Hadrian's Villa, and representing doves perched on the edge of a bowl. The subject agrees with that of a mosaic by Sosus of Perga- mon, an artist of the Hellenistic period, described by the elder Pliny, and was no doubt derived therefrom. It formed the centrepiece of a mosaic floor, and is remarkable for the minuteness of execution, which aims at an effect more proper to painting than to mosaic. Beneath it stands (13) a sarcophagus, upon which is represented Prometheus form- ing the first man of clay, together with other scenes (Hermes and a departed soul, Hephaestus and the Cyclopes, Eros and Psyche, etc. etc.) The crowding of these loosely connected subjects resembles that which we find on Christian sarcophagi, and one group of figures (a man and woman beneath a tree) has been thought to represent Adam and Eve in Paradise. Farther on, on the same wall, is a mosaic with theatrical masks, and beneath it a sarcophagus, upon which is figured the sleeping Endymion approached by Selene. In the second window-opening are fragments of Tabulse Iliacse, or slabs of marble upon which scenes from the Trojan war are engraved, with quotations or explanatory inscriptions. The largest is No. 83, in the centre of which is the destruction of Troy "according to Stesichorus," the Sicilian lyric poet. No. 83A represents the shield of Achilles as described in the i8th Iliad ; the Homeric text VII.] THE CAPITOL 109 is inscribed in minute characters on the edge of the shield, and on the back are letters which, read in several ways, give the sense, " The Shield of Achilles according to Homer, by Theodorus." Upon the tiers of shelves surrounding the room are a large number of heads and busts belonging to different periods. Amongst those on the end wall are several with modern stands of black marble which belong to the reigns of Augustus and his successors, and are characteristic of Early Imperial Art. In the centre (61) is a very remark- able bust of the third century A.D., which portrays a villainous- Cabinet of Courf Room of rhe Doves sraircase Venus Ib cJ 1 — — - — "f ^ ( Gall e r y Room oF the Emperors Room oF rhe Philosophers Salonc Room oF rhe Fawn Room oF the dying Gaul MUSEO CAPITOLINO Upper Floor looking personage with unsparing realism. Beneath is the cippus of a certain Claudia Syntyche, with a relief repre- senting a more famous Claudia — the Vestal who drew the boat containing the image of the Great Mother (Cybele) up the Tiber in 204 B.C. On the R. wall notice (28) a small double herm with the heads of two marine divinities, probably those of the lakes of Nemi and Albano, since a similar herm was found in the precinct of Diana Nemorensis beside the former lake. Returning to the Gallery we see on the R. (8) the statue ot a drunken old woman (head restored) clasping an amphora no THE CAPITOL [vii. wreathed with ivy. Pliny mentions such a statue as existing at Smyrna, and attributes it to Myron, who (if the text be correct) must have been a Hellenistic artist, not the famous Attic sculptor. Near it (lo) is an octagonal urn which once contained the ashes of a certain Lucillus Felix, daintily decorated with winged loves, masks and vine leaves. No. 12 is a graceful figure of a young Satyr playing the flute, conceived in the idyllic spirit of Alexandrian pastoral poetry. On the L. notice (56) a group of a seated Roman matron and her little boy, wearing the bulla or amulet hanging round his neck, popularly called " Agrippina and Nero " ; (54) an Aphrodite upon which has been set a head of Flavian date, as is shown by the high toupet (see below) ; (52) a female figure restored as a Muse, leaning upon a pillar — the type was created in the fifth century to represent Aphrodite, and often repeated with variations ; also (50), a torso belonging to a replica of Myron's discobolus (see p. 219), restored by the French sculptor, Etienne Monnot, as a fallen warrior. On either side of the doorway leading into the large saloon is a female head. That on the L. (51) is an Aphrodite of the period just before Praxiteles, with something of the severity of fifth century art : the one on the R. (47), with hollow eye-sockets, in which eyeballs of glass and enamel were once inserted, is in all probability an original work by the artist Damophon of Messene, whose style and date were not certainly known until the discovery of remains at Lycosura in Arcadia belonging to a sanctuary described by Pausanias. He lived in the early part of the second century B.C. Close to it is (48) a young Niobid, restored in accordance with a better-preserved replica in Florence ; it belonged to the group discussed on p. 324. Under No. 46 is a sarcophagus representing the birth and upbringing of the child Dionysus, who is surrounded by satyrs and nymphs. Opposite this (20) is a Psyche, with large butterfly wings, looking up pathetically toward the Eros, who we must imagine in the act of torturing her. The conception is strikingly similar to that of the Niobid just described. To the L., No. 42, is a grave-statue repre- VII.] THE CAPITOL iii senting a seated Roman matron, which cannot be later than the Augustan age. To the R. we pass through a doorway into the Cabinet of the Venus, named after the principal statue therein, which faces the door. The exquisite and naturahstic rendering of the nude, evidently due to study of a living model, stamps this as an original work ; the lack of spiritual expression in the face, which reproduces a type traceable to the fourth century B.C. in a somewhat perfunctory fashion, forbid us to date the statue earlier than the later Hellenistic period. It may be the work of a Greek artist of the last century B.C. The goddess has laid aside her last garment and is preparing to enter the bath, when an impulse of modesty causes her to cover herself as far as she can with her two hands. The subtlety and refinement of the motive show that the age of Praxiteles has been left far behind. To the L. is a group of Leda and the Swan, Leda is raising her cloak to protect the Swan, who has taken refuge with her from the pursuing eagle. There is nothing to indicate that it represents Zeus, and the chief interest of the artist seems to be concentrated on the representation of drapery. A close analogy has been traced in the sculptures from the temple of Asclepios at Epidaurus, which were the work of an Athenian sculptor, Timotheus, of the early fourth century B.C., and the original of this group has therefore been attributed to him. To the R. is a group commonly known as Eros and Psyche. Neither are, however, winged (the presence of wings would, in fact, destroy the simplicity of the group), and all that we see is a boy and girl embracing each other in childish innocence, as is delicately shown by their attitude, but standing on the threshold of a stronger passion. Such a problem could not have been attacked by Greek artists before the Hellenistic period ; on the other hand, its exis- tence in the second century B.C. is presupposed by terra- cottas and marbles of that time, which reproduce it on a small scale. In some of these wings are added, in order to characterise the figures as Eros and Psyche ; but this does not prove that the artist of the original intended them as such. Other modifications, in fact, are found ; the action of 112 THE CAPITOL [vii. the boy, who is opening the girl's mouth with his fingers in order to count her teeth, is altered in some examples. We return to the gallery and note at the end a large vase in the shape of a crater or mixing-bowl, finely decorated with plant-forms. It stands upon a circular well-head adorned with a procession of twelve gods in relief. The style of these figures is " archaistic " and affected ; notice such exag- gerated traits as the " swallow-tail " folds of the drapery and the tip-toe gait of the divinities. This fashion of imitating archaic works was prevalent amongst certain of the " Neo- Attic " sculptors of the first century B.C. On the R., No. 29, found at Velletri, is a replica (without the aegis) of the more famous "Giustiniani Athena" which is described on p. 329. At this end of the gallery are some noticeable Imperial portraits. No. 24 is Tiberius ; No. 27, a fine female head of about a.d. 200 may be Julia Domna, the wife of Septimius Severus ; No. 28, a youthful Marcus Aurelius ; No. 30, Trajan; No. 31, Caracalla ; while No. 33 is generally held to be one of the very few authentic portraits of Caligula, though it has also been suggested that it may represent Gaius Caesar, the grandson of Augustus, who died young, on the ground of its resemblance in profile to the portraits of his father, Agrippa. At this point we pass through a door on the L. and enter the Room of the Emperors, which contains a remarkable collection of Imperial busts formed by Cardinal Albani, to which but few additions have since been made. They deserve study not only for their intrinsic interest, but also as illustrating the development of a specifically Roman art of portraiture. The series begins on the upper shelf in the corner to L. of the window looking on the Piazza and con- tinues from L. to R. I is not, as it is described, a bust of Julius Cassar, but an unknown portrait of late Republican date, which illustrates the hard, realistic style in which the earliest Roman portrait-sculptors worked. 2A, Augustus wearing the oak-wreath or corona civica^ and those which follow, exemplify the classicistic style, dominated by Greek influences, which prevailed on the foundation of the Empire. MI.] THE CAPITOL 113 4 is Tiberius, 5 most probably his nephew and adopted son Germanicus, 7 may be his son Drusus. 6 is wrongly placed here, and really belongs to the Flavian period. The ladies of the court are represented by 8 and 10, the latter Agrippina the elder, wife of Germanicus. 11 is a modern bust of Caligula in green basalt, no doubt executed in imita- tion of coin-types to fill a gap in the series. Nos. 12 — 17 belong to the Julio-Claudian period. No. 16 has been restored as Nero, but only the upper part of the face is ancient. No. 18 resembles the coin-portraits of Galba, but seems to be a Republican bust worked over in modern times. 19 may be Otho ; the wavy hair is characteristic of this emperor. 20 shares with other portraits of Vitellius the sus- picion of being a modern creation, the prototype of which dates from the Renaissance ; the question is hard to decide. 21 (Vespasian) and 22 (Titus) are only moderate examples of the finest period of Roman portraiture ; 23 and 25 wear the unmistakable hairdress of the same age, and the latter may be Domitia, the wife of Domitian. 26 (Nerva) is thought to be the work of Algardi ; it is clearly modern. 27 is a good portrait of Trajan ; 28 is his Empress, Plotina, probably in the days of her widowhood. 29 and 30 re call by the style in which the hair is dressed the portraits of Marciana, the sister of Trajan, and Matidia, his niece, but the identifications are doubtful. 31 and 32 represent Hadrian, 33 most probably his wife Sabina, depicted as Ceres. (This is indicated by the diadem adorned with ears of wheat and poppy-heads ; the bust illustrates the Renaissance of Greek classicism under Hadrian.) Note that from the time of Hadrian onwards the practice of representing the iris or pupil of the eye by incisions in the marble comes into vogue. A new style is ushered in by the portraits of the Antonine period ; the Emperors are repre- sented by Nos. 35 (Antoninus Pius), 37 (Marcus Aurelius as a youth), 38 (the same in middle life), 41 (Lucius Verus), 34 and 43 (Commodus ; the latter is youthful, the former has wrongly been described as yElius Caesar, the adopted son of Hadrian and father of L. Verus). 36 is Faustina the elder, 114 THE CAPITOL. [vii. wife of Antoninus Pius ; 39 may possibly be Crispina, wife of Commodus. 40 seems to be a child of the Antonine house. The heads which follow are works of uncertain identification and belong to the late Antonine age or to that of the Severi ; 47 is Julia Mammasa, mother of Severus Alexander. 49 is interesting as possessing an artist's signa- ture—" Zenas the second," i.e. Zenas the son of Zenas. The father was most probably the artist whose signature may be read on a bust in the next room (below, p. 119); and both belonged to a well-known school of sculptors from Aphrodisias in Asia Minor, whose works can be dated to the reign of Hadrian. Whether they worked at Aphrodisias or, as seems more probable, in Rome, there can be no doubt that they exercised considerable in- fluence over the art of their time. No. 49 in particular is an excellent portrait, and must represent a personage of some importance at Hadrian's Court, seeing that another example has been fojind in a villa in France, probably the official residence of a governor or procurator, together with other Imperial portraits. Nos. 50 and 51 represent Clodius Albinus and Septimius Severus : the former was governor of Gaul, and was unwillingly recognised by Severus as joint-Emperor until the latter, having crushed his Eastern rival, Pescennius Niger (supposed without sufficient reason to be represented by No. 48), was free to attack him. 52 may be Severus' wife, Julia Domna ; 53 is his son and successor Caracalla, and though not a first-rate portrait, reproduces the characteristic type of the savage and half- insane tyrant. 54 may be the same Emperor in earlier life ; 57 is his younger brother Geta, whom he murdered in his mother's presence, not, as is commonly supposed, his cousin Elagabalus. The other heads, especially the female portraits, assigned to this period are not to be identified with any probability. As the third century advances the un-Roman cast of features — which begins with the dynasty of the Severi, who were of African origin and married Syrian wives — becomes more marked, and a new style of portraiture, which employs simple yet effective means, such VII.] THE CAPITOL 115 as the representation of short hair by incised chisel-strokes, comes into fashion. 62 is a bust of Maximinus the Thracian, the first barbarian Emperor ; 63 possibly his son Maximus. Few of the third-century heads can be securely identified, ^ince in the progressive decline of art the coin-portraits lose their iconographic value. 66 seems to be Pupienus. one of emperors set up by the Senate in A.D 238, the year of Six Emperors. 70 resembles the coin- portraits of Decius, the persecutor of the Christians ; 74 and 75 seem to represent father and son, probably private persons of the middle of the third century. 76 is a moder- ately good portrait of Gallienus, under whom the Empire almost suffered premature disruption : he was a conceited fop and dilettante^ and there was a strange renaissance of portraiture under his rule which was of brief duration. 79 bears the inscription MACARI " [a portrait] of Macarius," which has wrongly been interpreted as M. A(urelius) Cari(nus). The portrait is much earlier than Carinus, the predecessor of Diocletian, whose name has been given, quite wrongly, to No. 80, a fine bust which really belongs to the beginning of the second century A.D., and if it repre- sents an Imperial personage at all, is probably the father of Trajan. 81, a colossal head, has been called Con- stantius Chlorus, but is far older than his time. The treat- ment of the hair, etc., shows that the colossal statue to which it belonged was intended to be seen from a distance, and the workmanship is so effective that we may perhaps ascribe it to the Flavian period. 82 has the unintelligible inscription (seemingly of mediaeval date) ianus inpeator, which was taken to mean " lulianus Imperator" ; the head therefore has been identified as " Julian the Apostate." It is in reality a portrait of a Greek philosopher, of which there are other replicas in the next room (see below, p. 119). 83 is a typical example of the art of the Later Empire, with its stiff pose and fixed, staring gaze. Probably it is of the later fourth century A.D., but some hold that it belongs to the time of Justinian. In the centre of the room is (84) a seated female statue traditionally called Agrippina, but ii6 THE CAPITOL [vii. really of the Antonine period. The workmanship is common- place, but the pose and motive are derived from Greek art of the classical period. Amongst the reliefs let in to the upper part of the walls the most noticeable are two on the L. wall, representing (89) Perseus and Andromeda, (92) Endymion. Under the Roman Empire, if not before, the practice of decorating the walls of houses, etc., with large bas-reliefs in place of paintings sprang up. We have here two examples of this class. No. 92 is superior in workmanship, and the figure of the seated Endymion with his dog has no parallel in other ancient representations of the myth. It can scarcely be later than a.d. 100. No. 89 belongs rather to the class of the reliefs in Palazzo Spada, described on p. 169 ff. It is not, as some have thought, an Augustan composition derived from a painting of the Alex- andrian age, but arises from an eclectic combination of statuary motives, and is to be dated to the time of Hadrian or a little later. We pass through the door on the L. into the Room of the Philosophers, i.e. of the Greek portraits. Most of these are again derived from the Albani collection, and their identification is even more uncertain than that of the emperors. Not a few Roman portraits, too, are included in the collection. The numbering begins on the upper shelf to the L. of the entrance, i is not a portrait — though it has received the traditional name of Virgil — but an Eleu- sinian divinity resembling the beautiful head from Eleusis, believed to be the Eubouleus of Praxiteles. 2 and 3 represent a Greek philosopher, fancifully identified as Hera- clitus, "the weeping philosopher," on account of their pathetic expression. 4 and 5 are portraits of Socrates — in the latter the uglier features of the original are strongly emphasised — while 6 has been converted into a Socrates by the modern restorer. Nos. 7-9 cannot be identified ; No. 10 is a moderately good example of a type, long be- lieved to represent Seneca, but now recognised as the portrait of a famous Hellenistic poet, possibly Callimachus. In the Museo delle Terme (p. 217) is a replica wearing the VII.] THE CAPITOL 117 crown of ivy proper to poets, and the amazing realism with which the physical defects of the subject are portrayed points to a contemporary portrait rather than, as some have suggested, an imaginary representation of some early Greek poet such as the satirist Hipponax. Nos. 13 and 14 are good copies of an Attic portrait of the fourth century B.C., perhaps representing an orator ; No. 1 5 bears the irtscrip- tion AYCIAC, a mistake for Lysias. The genuineness of this inscription has been disputed, and the person repre- sented is not the same as the subject of the fine inscribed bust at Naples, as to which see on No. 96. 16 is a colossal male head of the Augustan head, wrongly called Agrippa, on the ground that it was found near the Pantheon. 21 is a copy made in the second century A.D. (as is shown by the form of the bust) of a fine realistic portrait of a Greek philosopher of the Hellenistic age. It has been identified with Diogenes, but the resemblance to the inscribed statu- ette of that philosopher in the Villa Albani is not close. 22, a fragment mounted in relief on vcrde antico^ is not Archimedes, as the modern inscription has it, but Sophocles (see on No. 33). 24 is a bust executed in the thir.d century A.D. (compare the Imperial portraits of that period in the previous room) which bears the name Asclepiades, possibly a famous physician of the first century B.C. 25 is a contemporary portrait of the Platonic philosopher Theon of Smyrna, who lived under Trajan and Hadrian. 31 is a poor portrait of Demosthenes ; 32, a Roman of the second century A.D. 33 and 34 are replicas of the portrait of Sophocles best known from the statue in the Lateran (p. 235), which belongs to the latter half of the fourth century B.C. It is instructive to compare this type with No. 22, which belongs to the poet's lifetime, and is identified by means of an inscribed bust in the Vatican (p. 300). 35 is a badly preserved example of the portrait sometimes called Alcibiades discussed on p. 316. 37 and 38 resemble each other closely, and may represent the same person : a similar head appears on coins of Soli in Cilicia, and is either that of Aratus, the astronomer, or of Chrysippus, the Stoic philo- ii8 THE CAPITOL [vii. sopher and logician, both of whom lived in the third century B.C. Chrysippus had a famous statue in Athens, and it is possible that our head, combined with a body in the Louvre, may represent it. 39 and 40 are of the same period, but do not represent the same person. 41-43 reproduce the con- ventional type of Euripides, which, like that of Sophocles (No. 33), is not contemporary, but largely idealised in the taste of a later time. 44-46 are examples of an ideal portrait of Homer, the creation of which was the work of the Rhodian school to which we owe the Laocoon. 47 seems to have been originally a Sophocles of the type repre- sented by 22, worked over to give an appearance of blind- ness and possibly intended for Homer. 48 was found together with an inscription mentioning Domitia, the wife of Domitian and daughter of Cn. Domitius Corbulo, a brilliant general who was in command on the Eastern frontier under Nero and was finally put to death by his order, and as it is of the Julio-Claudian period it is almost certainly a portrait of Corbulo, and a fine example of Roman portraiture. 49 bears the inscription P. COR. SCIPIO, indicating that it was regarded as a portrait of Scipio Africanus the elder, the conqueror of Hannibal : but this dates from the eighteenth century, and few would now be found to maintain the correctness of the identification. The bust is one of a numerous class, distinguished by the shaven head and (in most instances) by the presence of a scar or scars, sometimes, as here, in the shape of a cross, upon the forehead. If we assume that the busts represent distin- guished Romans of the Republic, these traits must be taken as evidences of the realism which is always found in native Italian art : the appearance of baldness might perhaps be traced to the direct imitation of the waxen masks of ances- tors preserved in the houses of the Roman aristocracy, in which the hair was painted. But there are strong reasons for thinking that the busts are those of priests of Isis, who shaved their heads and were branded as a token of dedi- cation. The present example was executed in the second century a.d., as is shown by the plastic treatment of the iris VII.] THE CAPITOL 119 and pupil (see above, p. 38). 51 is an Augustan portrait, but not, as it has been called, Pompey. 53 is a very poor portrait of Menander, better represented in the Vatican (p. 314). 54, wrongly called Sappho, is a fifth century type of Athena. 56 is a good and characteristic portrait of a Hellenistic philosopher ; 58, a poor bust of Plato (see p. 284). 59 is a fierce-looking, barbaric youth which has been called Arminius, but is really of the second century a.d. 61 is the orator ^schines (see p. 283) ; 62 and 64 represent Epicurus, the founder of the Epicurean school, and his friend Metro- dorus, who are also portrayed on the double herm 63. 66 is signed by Zenas of Aphrodisias, probably the father of the artist mentioned on p. 114, and is a very fair portrait dating from about the end of Trajan's reign. 68, once known as Massinissa, is a copy of an Attic original of the fifth century B.C. ; the suggestion that it may represent Miltiades is at least possible. 69 dates from the same period, but is hard to interpret ; the fillet or diadem which it wears was perhaps misunderstood by the Roman copyist. 70 is a portrait of the cynic Antisthenes (see p. 283). 72 and 'j'^ are replicas of the so-called Julian the Apostate (p. 115); the style of the former shows that the common original was of bronze. It was of the fifth century B.C., no doubt representing a philo- sopher, whom we are not able to identify, and must rank as one of the earliest true portraits preserved to us. 75 is proved to be a portrait of Cicero by its resemblance to a bust in Apsley House (much restored) which is inscribed with his name. Its refined and intellectual, but somewhat weak and nervous expression, suits well with the character of the orator. 76 has been called Terence, but the mask engraved on the shoulder indicates a writer of tragedy, not comedy, and it is a work of the third century a.d. ']']- 79 are replicas of an ideal portrait, indicated by the fillet as that of a priest or poet. It may represent a comparatively early conception of Homer, or possibly of Hesiod. 80, wearing an Oriental turban, has been shown to represent Pythagoras from its resemblance to a head on an inscribed ^'contornjate '' or toke^, 81 is a work of the school >vhich I20 THE CAPITOL [vii. produced the Periander of the Vatican (p. 281). 82, a fine portrait, has been conjectured on account of its baldness to represent ^^ischylus or Phidias. Others believe that the forehead is that of a mathematician, and suggest Archi- medes. In any case it can scarcely be earlier than the fourth century B.C. 83, a bust in dark grey marble of about the middle of the second century A.D., has two replicas, at Modena and at Florence, one of which is inscribed with the name of Euripides and the other with that of Homer. Both inscriptions are, of course, forgeries, and the busts probably represent Tiberius Julius Rhoemetalces, King of Bosphorus (i.e. the Crimea) under Antoninus Pius. The busts which follow are mostly portraits of nameless Greek philosophers, except 85, which reproduces an ideal type of the fifth century. 95 has "been thought to be Sophocles, but with little reason. 96 is a replica, showing by its technique that the original from which it was copied was of bronze, of a portrait in Naples inscribed with the name of the orator Lysias, a very fine work. If that inscription be accepted as genuine, 1 5 cannot be a portrait of the orator. 97 is Theo- phrastus, the successor of Aristotle as head of the Lyceum. In the centre of the room is a seated statue, the motive of which may be traced to a Greek original of the fourth century B.C. by comparing a statue in Naples, inscribed with the name of Moschion, an Athenian tragic poet. A modern head was added in the sixteenth century, and the statue has been called by the name of M. Claudius Marcellus, the conqueror of Syracuse. On the walls of this room may be seen a number of reliefs, several of which belong to a frieze ornamented with sacri- ficial instruments and parts of ships. On the R. of the window is one (121) which represents a harbour and land- scape : this class of relief is often called Hellenistic, but few of the extant examples can be earfier than the Imperial period. On the L. wall is one (in) in rosso antico^ representing a sacrifice to Hygieia, the goddess of health, the subject of which is almost exactly reproduced on a me(J.^llion struck by Marcus ^urelius ; also (no) a relief in I VII.] THE CAPITOL 121 " archaistic " style, representing Pan and the Nymphs, with the signature of Callimachus, possibly added in order to claim the work for an Attic artist of that name who lived towards the close of the fifth century B.C. On the opposite wall (118) is a curious Bacchic reHef, other replicas of which exist ; the original must have been of the Hellenistic period. The subjects cannot be satisfactorily explained. We pass through the further door and enter the large hall or salone. In the centre of the room we notice five statues made of dark material. In the middle is (3) an almost repulsive figure in black basalt representing Heracles as a child of colossal dimensions ; it rests on a marble base decorated with reliefs showing the birth, upbringing and triumph of Zeus in the "archaising" style of Neo- Attic art. On either side of it (2, 4) are two Centaurs in bigio morato. They were found in Hadrian's Villa near Tivoli, and we learn from the inscriptions upon their bases that they were the work of two Greek artists, Aristeas and Papias, of Aphro- disias in Caria (S. W. Asia Minor) : but these were only copyists of the second century A.D. belonging to the school whose portraits we have already noticed (p. 114). They chose black marble in order to give the effect of bronze, and certainly showed great technical dexterity in imitating bronze technique, with all its undercutting and minuteness of detail. The originals were of the late Hellenistic period, and more particularly of the Rhodian school, as we see by comparing the head of the old Centaur with that of the Laocoon (p. 301). Originally each of the Centaurs was ridden by a small figure of Eros (Cupid) ; the old one had his hands tied behind his back and the merciless little god was tugging at his hair ; the young one listens smilingly to the Love-god's advice. In the replica in the Vatican (p. 286) he holds a hare in his uplifted R. arm ; but this is a restoration —probably a wrong one. In any case the figures symbolise the contrasted effects of love on old and young. The two figures at the ends of the row (i, 5) repre- sent Zeus and Asclepios. The statues which surround the walls illustrate most of 122 THE CAPITOL [vii. the principal phases of Greek and Graeco- Roman sculpture, and several of them are worthy of attention on that account, although their artistic merit, whether as copies or as originals, is not of the highest. In the first place, we have fifth =century art represented by the two Amazons (19 and 33), two statues of Apollo (20, 30) and one of Hera (24). Let us take the Apollos first. 20 is notable for its powerful muscular build, which has led some archaeologists to consider it as in origin an athletic type, adapted by copyists in Roman times to the representation of Apollo. We hear ot a certain Pythagoras of Rhegium (Reggio in Calabria) as the first to represent the hair in a naturalistic way, and to indicate the veins in his athlete-statues ; and this is certainly a work to which such a description might apply. Others think that Calamis, an Athenian artist, who lived just before Phidias in the early half of the fifth century B.C., and was renowned for the " delicacy and grace " of his work, may have been the sculptor of the original — evidently a famous work, since several copies are known, amongst them a fine one in the British Museum, usually called the " Choisent- Goufiier " Apollo, and another in Athens, found near the Theatre of Dionysus, and generally called the " Apollo on the Omphalos" because it was wrongly supposed to have stood on a representation of the Delphic Omphalos (a conical stone supposed to mark the " navel of the earth ") found near to it. The legs are not correctly restored : in the original the pose was stiffer, and the graceful contrast between the leg upon which the weight of the statue rested, and that which was free — the creation of the great fifth century artists— was not emphasised. The figure should probably be restored with a bow in the right hand and a branch of bay in the left. 30 belongs to a somewhat more advanced stage of art. If not, as some have thought, copied from a work of Phidias himself, it certainly proceeds from his school. We can still trace the influence of athletic sculpture in the powerfully built frame, but there is more naturalism than in No. 20. It is unfortunately not clear that the head, which has been reset, belonged to the statue, VII.] THE CAPITOL 123 but at any rate the traces of flowing locks upon the shoulders and the quiver on the support prove that this is no human figure, but Apollo. The surface has suffered much from modern polishing. We now turn to the Amazons. Pliny tells a story that four sculptors of the fifth century — Phidias, Polyclitus, Cresilas, and Phradmon — executed statues of Amazons in competition for the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and that Polyclitus was adjudged the winner by the votes of the artists themselves. The anecdote is hardly worthy of credence ; but there were-doubtless such statues at Ephesus, where (according to the local legend) the Amazons had taken sanctuary when pursued by Heracles and Dionysus. Three of these Amazons have been identified with some approach to certainty. That of Phidias is represented by No. 4 in the room of the Gladiator, which will be described presently ; that of Polyclitus by a statue in the Braccio Nuovo (p. 327). This latter has a wound in her R. breast ; but her attitude— she is resting her weight on the R. foot, and raising her R. arm very much in the pose of the Apollo in this room (No. 7) — would tend to increase the pain of her wound. The type represented by No. 19 and (better still) by No. 33 (which retains its original head) almost seems like a criticism in marble on the work of Polyclitus. The Amazon rests her weight not on the R. but on the L. foot, and with her L. hand (if rightly restored) draws her tunic away from the wounds in her R. side, while with her R. hand — as is shown by the design on an ancient gem copied from this type — she grasps and leans upon her spear. In the expression of the face, too, there is a marked advance on the Polyclitan type, and when we compare the portrait of Pericles (cf. p. 281) we recognise the work of the Attic sculptor Cresilas. The name Sosicles, engraved on the support of the L. leg, is that of the copyist. Let us now turn to (34) an imposing figure of the matronly goddess Hera,^ which should be compared with the colossal statue in the Vatican Rotunda (p. 278). The style of the drapery and ^ Or perhaps Demeter (Ceres). 124 THE CAPITOL [vii. the quiet dignity of the figure enable us to date the original in the latter half of the fifth century and ascribe it to the Attic school, perhaps to Alcamenes, a pupil of Phidias. We come next to fourth=century art, and notice two more types of Apollo, which clearly illustrate the difference in spirit between this period and that of the early fifth century. Upon No. 7 has been placed a head belonging to an earlier type, represented by the very similar, but un- draped, figure in the room of the dying Gaul. The pose of the R. arm is similar to that of the wounded Amazon of Polyclitus, but this is the only survival of fifth-century tradition. Apollo is about to awaken by his touch the music of the lyre upon which his L. hand rests, but for the moment he is meditating on the song he is to utter. The forms are no longer those of the trained athlete, but full and delicately modelled. The drapery which enwraps the lower limbs is an addition by the artist, who modified the type above- mentioned ; the original creation was due to the school of Praxiteles. Another Apollo (31) illustrates the search for new poses, in which Praxiteles led the way, and may also be set down to the credit of his school, if not of the master himself. And in 21 we have an example of a motive which — though common in painting, as the vases show — was introduced into sculpture in the fourth century. It is hard to say whether the youth who raises his R. hand while his L. rests upon the leg, which is supported on a rock, is but a mortal athlete or Hermes the Orator, who seems to have been represented in this pose. In any case the work seems to be copied from an original of Lysippus or his school. Lastly, No. 12 is a fourth-century athlete type, hard to assign to any school. It may be copied from a work of the Corinthian Euphranor. Amongst the types which date from the Hellenistic period the most interesting is the old woman (22), a figure which was once thought to represent the nurse of the Niobids (cf. p. 324). It clearly, however, belongs to a much later date, and in its repulsive realism recalls the drunken old VII.] THE CAPITOL 125 woman in the gallery (p. 109). Clearly it once formed part of a group, the action of which must have accounted for the terror expressed in the attitude (the head is modern). 28 is interesting as an example of the new ideal of divinity created by Alexandrian artists to embody the conceptions of Graeco-Egyptian religion. It represents Harpocrates, or "the child Horus," son of Isis and Osiris, and the childish gesture which the Greeks noticed in Egyptian statues of Horus was understood to betoken silence. Thus Harpocrates became the God of Silence. The statue was found in the Villa of Hadrian, for whom Egyptian cults had a powerful attraction. No. 6 is a replica of the Satyr in the next room, to be described presently. The Roman period is represented by two colossal busts —of Trajan (9) and Antoninus Pius (25) — which are prob- ably modern, and some portrait statues. 14 (sometimes called " Marius" ) is a very moderate piece of work of the late Republican period, chiefly interesting as showing the fashion of wearing the toga ; 10 is a nude figure derived from a fifth-century athletic type, upon which a head of Augustus has been set. 13 is Hadrian, with the attributes of Mars, 15 a Roman lady to whom a portrait-head of the second century has been assigned by the restorer ; 32 Marcus Aurelius. The poorest, but most interesting, of these Roman works is 34, which represents a man and woman with the attributes of Venus and Mars — the progenitors of the Julian house. The artist has conbined in this group two types differing in style and date. The " Mars " is modelled on a fifth-century Ares of the Attic school, the " Venus " is taken from the " Aphrodite holding a shield," whose history can be traced through a long succession of variants, the most famous of which is the "Venus of Milo" in the Louvre. No better example could be found of the unintelligent adaptation of Greek types in the work- shops of the Empire. Notice finally the curious statue of a hunter (27) with the traits of a Roman of the Antonine period, holding a hare (mostly restored) in his uplifted R. hand. The sculptor has used and modified an early 126 THE CAPITOL [vii. athletic type to represent the patron of the freedman Polytimus, whose name is inscribed on the pHnth. High up on the walls are a number of busts and heads placed on brackets, which are difficult to study. Perhaps the most interesting are 38, which seems to belong to the time of Gallienus (cf. p. 115), and resembles a portrait in the Braccio Nuovo (p. 326), 39, recalling Philip the Arabian (cf. p. 329), and 66, which has been thought to represent Diocletian, and is in any case a rare and interesting ex- ample of the portraiture of the late third century A.D. We now pass into the Room of the Faun, which takes its name from the statue in red marble {Rosso antico) which stands in the centre of the room. This was found in Hadrian's villa, in another part of which the replica, also in Rosso antico^ now in the Vatican (p. 299), came to light. The use of a costly material and the elaborate and finicking treatment of detail remind us of the Centaurs in the Salone, and we are tempted to ascribe the red Satyrs to the same group of copyists. More than this, the original, which was certainly of the Hellenistic age, may well have been a work of the school which produced the Centaurs. The R. hand has been rightly restored with a bunch of grapes which the Satyr is holding up in delight, while with his L. he clasps an armful of grapes and pomegranates. The pose of the statue is traceable to Lysippus, but the realistic conception and treatment of the Satyr as a peasant type belongs to a much later time. The Satyr stands on a base in which have been inserted four slabs belonging to an altar dedicated, as the inscrip- tion within the laurel-wreath on the back tells us, to "Jupiter the Best and Greatest, the Sun, Serapis," by a certain Scipio Orfitus. From the titles which he bears it is certain that he was a personage who lived at the close of the third century A.D. — the last member known to us of a family distinguished throughout the history of the Empire ; but it is equally certain that the altar is much earlier in date than his time. Probably it was executed to the order of one of the earlier Scipios in the first century A.D. Notice VII.] THE CAPITOL 127 the remarkable relief on the side facing the window — an armed figure riding upon a bull and holding an olive-branch and cornucopia, who approaches a reclining earth-goddess ; in the background is a fortified precinct within which are cypress trees. The rider must represent one of the Syrian baalim or sun-gods, and the altar bears testimony to the early introduction of such worships into Imperial Rome. On either side of the room are characteristic sarcophagi repre- senting (3) Selene visiting Endymion, (18) a battle of Greeks and Amazons. Upon these are placed heads, amongst which we may note (6) a female head, probably intended for Isis ; the back was veiled, and some ornament, such as a lotus-flower, was inserted in front ; also two heads of Dionysius (19 and 21), the latter very graceful and feminine, and hence often miscalled Ariadne. In the far right-hand corner is a statuette of a boy strangling a goose, which reproduces a famous work of the early Hellenistic period by Boethus of Chalcedon — perhaps the earfiest masterpiece of true genre in sculpture. The same spirit breathes in (8) the child playing with the mask of Silenus. Close to the entrance-door are three altars — to Neptune, Calm, and the Winds — found at Antium (Porto d'Anzo) ; on the first of these is a colossal head of Heracles, belonging to the gigantic type of the hero created towards the end of the fourth century B.C. There are some Roman busts in this room, chiefly of the second century : one (2) is of the third, and has the name of the subject — Cethegus — inscribed upon it. It illustrates the late fashion of wearing the toga with carefully laid folds across the breast {coniabidatio). On the wall opposite the entrance will be seen a bronze tablet once famous under the name of " Lex Regia," to which Cola di Rienzo appealed in vindication of the rights of the Roman people. Modern criticism has shown that it is a fragment of the Act formally passed on the accession of Vespasian in a.d. 69 (as on that of each emperor in turn), conferring upon him the various rights, offices, and privileges which made up the Imperial prerogative. It is couched in the form proper to a decree of the Senate, but was doubtless ^28 THE CAPITOL [vii. submitted for ratification to the nominally sovereign people ; and the several clauses are interesting as showing how additions were made from time to time to the prerogatives of the emperor. On the opposite wall are reliefs and in- scriptions, some of which belong to tombstones of the Equites Singulares — a force of Imperial household cavalry. We now pass into the Room of the Dying Gaul, which contains the statues removed to Paris by Napoleon I and restored after his fall. It takes its name from the figure in the centre of the room, so famous under the name of the *• Dying Gladiator." This statue once belonged to the Ludovisi, and was probably discovered when their villa was built on the site of the Park of Sallust (p. 194), together with that of the Gaul and his wife, which we shall see in the Museo delle Terme (p. 209). Both are copies— probably made in Pergamon itself — from figures set up by Attains I (B.C. 241-197) on the citadel of Pergamon to celebrate his victories over the Gallic tribes who had established them- selves in Asia Minor and, whether as mercenaries or as raiders, harried their neighbours on all sides. The Celtic type, with its coarse, mane-like hair and unshaven upper lip, is clearly indicated ; and the twisted golden collar {torques) was, as we know, regularly worn by the Gauls. It has been thought that the warrior has inflicted the fatal wound with his own hand in order to escape captivity, but a self-inflicted wound would not be on the R. side. He has broken the horn which lies beside him, and is gradually sinking in his death-agony upon his shield, a lonely and pathetic figure which, in spite of all the uncouthness of the barbaric form, cannot fail to arouse our sympathy. No. 2, a majestic female divinity, probably Persephone, seems to be a work of the later Pergamene school : a small but characteristic detail is the indication of creases in the drapery. This school (which flourished in the second century B.C.) was eclectic in its method ; and so we find that the head of the goddess is inspired by earlier Attic types. Next to this is (3) a colossal head in which we re- VII.] THE CAPITOL 129 cognise a highly idealised portrait of Alexander the Great. In the hair are seven holes for the insertion of golden rays which marked Alexander as the Sun-God. 4 is another member of the group of Amazons mentioned on p. 123 ; but she is unwounded, and the most probable explanation of the pose is that she was planting her spear firmly on the ground in order to use it as a leaping pole to mount her horse. The spear (or pole) is shown in an ancient gem. We are told that the Amazon of Phidias was "lean- ing on her spear,"' and as those of Polyclitus and Cresilas are accounted for, it is natural to seek that of the Attic master in this statue ; unfortunately neither this nor any replica (such as that in the Vatican, p. 291) possesses its original head. Beside it we see (5) a fine head of Dionysus, which, like No. 21, in the Room of the Faun, has been wrongly supposed to be female and called Ariadne. The dreamy, effeminate face embodies an ideal of the god created by the school of Praxiteles and gradually perfected in the Hellenistic period, to which this head belongs. 6 is a curious figure of no great artistic merit found in Hadrian's Villa, together with the colossal head of Isis now in the Museo Chiaramonti (p. 314), and seems to represent a priestess of that goddess carrying water for the purifica- tion connected with her worship. 7 has been mentioned in connection with the similar Apollo in the Salone. 8 is a very fine portrait of a Greek philosopher — possibly even an original. It has been called by the name of Zeno, the founder of the Stoic school, for no better reason than the fact (which is itself doubtful) that it was found in a villa be- lieved to have been the residence of the Antonine Emperors. It bears no resemblance, however, to the bust at Naples in- scribed with the name of Zeno— if that be indeed the Stoic and not a later Epicurean. The statue is a masterpiece, not so much because of its realism — although the artist has spared no detail, however unsightly, which he saw in his subject — but by reason of its intimate grasp and convincing revelation of character— of soul expressing itself through body. 9 is a good example of Hellenistic ge7ire-si\x\\i- K I30 THE CAPITOL [vii. ture— a girl protecting her pet bird from an animal, probably a cat or dog (the snake is a false restoration). lo is the famous Marble Faun, a good copy of the " Resting Satyr" of Praxiteles, which was one of the most characteristic creations of his genius. Notice firstly the pose, the charm of Avhich rests in the rhythm of its curve. This was the invention of Praxiteles and became almost a mannerism in his hands. Then observe the modelling of the bodily forms, so different from that of the athletes of the fifth century with their sharply outlined muscles. It is here that the copies fail us most of all. Some will remember a torso in the Louvre belonging to a replica of this type, and so immeasur- ably superior to the other copies in the exquisite modelling of its surface that it has been thought to be the original. Lastly, consider the spirit of the work. Praxiteles has transformed the wild, half-bestial creature haunting the forests into a dreamy, sensuous embodiment of undying youth, sunk in the reverie induced by the music of his flute. Only the pointed ears hint at the animal nature of the Satyr. No. 12 presents a curious problem. It was found in Hadrian's Villa, and is often supposed to be a portrait of Antinous (see p. 279). But though the features seem too individual for a purely ideal type, they are not those of Antinous. Unfortunately the object once held in the R. hand is lost, and we cannot be sure that it was the wand of Hermes, as some think, or a fishing-rod, which might pos- sibly be an attribute of Narcissus. Probably the statue — or its original, for the smooth, lifeless work is that of Had- rian's time— adorned a grave-monument and represented the dead person in a semi-divine form. 14 is also from Hadrian's Villa, and is similar to 12 in its execution. It is often called " Flora," but is merely a genre figure. The original, as the undercutting of the drapery shows, was of bronze. 15 represents a priestess of Isis, as the peculiar fashion in which the dress is fastened shows, and has been restored accordingly. 16 is a remarkable bust of the Early Empire. It has been described as a portrait of Brutus, the murderer of Caesar, a view now generally vii] THE CAPITOL 131 abandoned, or again as a bust of Virgil, from a supposed resefnblance to a mosaic found in N. Africa upon which the poet is represented. Strong reasons, however, exist for beheving that it represents Agrippa Postumus, the youngest of Augustus' grandsons, and the "black sheep" of his family, who was put to death on the accession of Tiberius. Leaving the Museo Capitolino, we cross the Piazza and enter the Palazzo dei Conservator!, in which are pre- served the bronzes and historical sculpture forming the nucleus of the municipal collection, together with the most important works discovered in recent times which have be- come the property of the municipality. We enter a courtyard, and notice in the portico to R, and L. two colossal statues, supposed to represent Julius Caesar and Augustus. That on the r. of the entrance may be a portrait of the Dictator, though it certainly is not a contemporary one ; the other represented an Admiral, as we see by the ship's beak carved upon its plinth, but the head has been reset and may not have belonged to the statue. Along the L. wall are ranged a series of interesting reliefs discovered in the Piazza di Pietra, which once adorned the stylobate of the temple now converted into the Stock Exchange (p. 182). Whatever this building Ivas, the reliefs certainly personify the various provinces of the Roman Empire, and date from the Antonine period. In style and conception they mark a compromise between the classicism which was then in fashion and the realistic Roman spirit. The figures were placed underneath the columns of the temple, while the trophies (in flat relief) decorated the inter- columnar spaces. Unfortunately these reliefs were found at different times, and have been scattered in different collec- tions — three at Naples, one in the Palazzo Farnese, one in the Palazzo Odescalchi, one in the Vatican (p. 332), and two high up in the facade of the Villa Doria Pamfili. Those which are here preserved, however, suffice to give a good impression of a branch of art in which Roman sculptors 132 THE CAPITOL [vii. found much scope for their invention. Some are simply conventional female figures, clad in Greek costume, whose attitude indicates, with restraint and dignity, the regret of the conquered people for their lost freedom : such is the queenly figure with folded arms interpreted as Germany or Gaul. In others there is more attempt at characterisation — the short crisp hair of the figure on the R. betokens an African province (Mauretania or Numidia) and the drapery knotted at the waist of another figure suggests an Egyptian fashion. Others, again, are distinguished by their national arms — the short battle-axe of the "Ungaria'' — as the modern in- scription calls it— points to the North, and the cuirass worn over tunic and trousers is thought to belong to Spain. Above the figure of Egypt is a colossal head, which with other fragments (on the R. side of the court) belonged to a statue found in the Basilica of Constantine (p. 78) and almost certainly representing the first Christian Emperor. The head is a fine example of the portraiture of that age when sculpture had ceased to be naturalistic and become almost monumental. Probably the head and extremities only were of marble, the rest of wood plated with gilt bronze. Opposite the entrance is a statue restored as Rome, at whose feet is a keystone decorated with a figure in relief which represents a mourning province, and on either side are statues of barbarians in dark marble which remind us of those of the Dacians on the columns of the Arch of Constantine. Notice on the R. wall the urn which once contained the ashes of Agrippina the elder, wife of Germanicus, and was used in the Middle Ages as a measure for corn. Turning to the L. we see at the bottom of the staircase a modern imitation of the Columna rostraia^ or " column of the beaks," which was set up in honour of Gaius Duilius, the first great Roman admiral, who defeated the Carthagin- ians at Myla; (N. of Sicily) in 260 B.C. Beneath it is an inscription recording his exploit — not, however, that which was engraved in the third century B.C., but a restoration executed under the Early Empire, when ancient monuments VII.] THE CAPITOL 133 of this sort were refurbished. Beyond this is a statue of Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily, who held the office of Senator of Rome in the thirteenth century, worthy of notice as illustrating the difference between ancient and mediceval portrait-sculpture. Ascending the staircase we notice on the L. wall a relief representing M. Curtius leaping into the chasm in the Forum which bore his name (p. 60). The clumsy style of the sculpture shows its late date — about the end of the third century A.D. Upon the back of the slab is an inscription set up by L. NiEvius Surdinus, the praetor whose name was inscribed upon the tribunal in the P^orum ; and the stone was used at a much later time (possibly after the great fire of A.D. 285) in restoring the balustrade which enclosed the Lacus Curtius. It has been suggested that the relief was then copied from an archaic monument ; but it may well have been due to the invention of the third- century sculptor. Upon the two landings of the staircase and the R. wall of the corridor at the top are several panels with historical reliefs of the second century. Three of these (on the first landing) belonged to a triumphal arch set up in honour of Marcus Aurelius' victories over the barbarians on the Danube (a.d. 17 1-5) ; eight others of the same series were used to decorate the Arch of Constantine (see p. 251). One of those which we see here represents the Emperor receiving the submission of barbarians of German type on the field of battle. The others depict his triumph, celebrated in A. D. 1 76. In the first we see him in his triumphal car, beside which is a youthful ideal figure— the military divinity " Honos '"— approaching the arch which gives access to the Capitol. The second shows the sacrifice offered in fulfilment of his vow to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, whose temple is seen in the background. We know that this temple was hexastyle— i.e. had six columns in the front— but it is here shown with four only. This was the last of the four temples erected on the foundations originally laid by the kings. The first was burnt in the civil war of Sulla and Marius (83 B.C.), the second in that of Vitellius and the adherents of Vespasian 134 THE CAPITOL [vW. (a.d. 69) ; the third— rebuilt by Vespasian— was destroyed in the great fire which raged in A.D. 81. Domitian was the builder of that here represented. Though no trace of its sculptures remains, this and another relief (now lost) enable us to reconstruct the crowded group of pediment statues. The three divinities to whom the temple was dedicated — Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva— were represented in the centre, with other gods, and the chariots of sun and moon to L. and R. Beside the moon's car was the forge of Vulcan, balanced by a similar group on the opposite side. Reclining figures filled each angle of the pediment. The formal symmetry of the composition was borrowed from Greek practice : but the poverty of invention of the Roman artist is shown in the lack of a dominating idea giving organic unity to the group, such as we find e.g. in the Parthenon pediments. Notice the reliefs in the mingling of real and ideal elements which characterises Roman historical art. M. Aurelius in his triumphal car is heralded by a human trumpeter, but beside him walks an idealised youth thought by some to typify the Genius of the Roman people, but more probably representing Honos, a divinity worshipped by the army, and a winged Victory hovers over his head. The scene of sacrifice is in the main realistic. Notice the boy acolyte or ca77iillus with long curls, the flute-player and the attendant girt about the waist who holds the sacrificial axe ; but behind the Emperor stands an elderly figure, obviously ideal in type, who seems to repre- sent the Senate. Compare with this the fourth relief on this landing, where the head of the Emperor has been re- stored — wrongly — as M. Aurelius in order to correspond with the other panels. It should almost certainly be Hadrian, whose home-coming to Rome (he was in the East at the time of his accession) is here symbolised. The goddess of Rome hands him the globe as the token of universal dominion, and the ideal figures by whom he is accompanied (as well as by his standard-bearers and lictors) seem to typify Senate and People. The reliefs in the corridor and on the upper landing belong to the same style VII.] THE CAPITOL 135 of historical art, and in all probability to the reign of Hadrian (the head of the Emperor is largely restored in both). In the first we see Hadrian delivering an oration, which he reads from a scroll to the assembled people ; in the second the deification of an Empress is symbolically represented. A winged female figure — the goddess of Eternity — is bearing the Empress to the skies from the funeral pyre, beside which are on the one side her husband, on the other a youth who personifies the Campus Martins, where the funeral ceremony took place. The two reliefs formed at one time part of the decoration of an arch which formerly spanned the Corso near to S. Lorenzo in Lucina, and was called the Arco di Portogallo because the Portu- guese Embassy was close by. It was destroyed in 1662, and we cannot be sure that it was really (or wholly) an ancient construction. It seems more likely that it had been decorated with fragments of ancient sculpture found in the Campus Martins ; and in this case our reliefs may have come from the spot where the ceremonial cremation of the emperors of the second century was carried out — the Ustriniiin Anto7iinoruin^ as it was called— which was under or near the modern Monte Citorio. The Empress, then, will be Sabina, the wife of Hadrian, who died in A D. 136, and the speech delivered by the Emperor her funeral oration. The door which faces us as we enter the corridor leads into the Halls of the Conservators, chiefly notable for their modern frescoes, but containing also a few ancient busts and other works. Note in the first room two large marble vases with reliefs, of the kind produced under the Early Empire for the decoration of gardens and parks by the " Neo-Attic " school, already mentioned. In the second hall is the famous Bronze Wolf, which was preserved throughout the Middle Ages in the Lateran, but presented to the Conservators by Sixtus IV. At some time in the sixteenth century the twins were added : the story that they were the work of Guglielmo della Porta is improbable. We read of a similar statue set up by the asdiles of 295 B.C., beside the Ficus Ruminalis, beneath 136 THE CAPITOL [vii. which, according to legend, Romukis and Remus were suckled ; but the CapitoHne wolf is far too archaic in style to have been executed at so late a date. Cicero mentions, however, another wolf, dedicated on the Capitol and struck by lightning in 65 B.C. Traces of damage which might have been so caused may be seen on the hind legs of the animal, and there can be little doubt that the two are to be identified. This leaves the date of the original an open question, and the style of the work seems to point to Early Ionic art of the sixth century B.C. If we could be sure that the twins were originally represented, we should have in it the earliest evidence for the legend of the foundation of Rome. In one of the halls at the further end of the building are the fragments of the Fasti Consulares and Fasti trimn- phales, giving the lists of the consuls of the Republic and of all the generals who had celebrated a triumph, which once adorned the walls of the Regia (p. 74), Turning to the L. at the first opening in the corridor we enter the three rooms of the " Fasti Moderni," or lists of Roman magistrates. In these are a number of partrait- busts, both Greek and Roman. The most interesting is that in the middle of the L. wall in the first room, which has the inscription **Anacreon" in Greek characters. The pose of the head shows that the original was not a bust, but a statue ; and we possess a copy of this statue, now in Copenhagen. The poet of love and wine was represented singing to the lyre (notice the slightly parted lips) ; and the style of the statue shows it to be a creation of fifth-century art — one of the earliest of Greek portraits. The first portrait on the L. is that of a Roman of the late Republic, who has been identified without reason as C. Domitius Ahenobarbus, the grand- father of Nero. In the third room on the l,. is a female portrait wearing a turban decorated with strings of precious stones. The pupils of the eyes are rendered by deep drill- holes, once, no doubt, filled with glass or paste. Though the face is not without expression, it clearly belongs to a VII.] THE CAPITOL I37 period when the naturalism of ancient art was extinct, prob- ably to the fifth or sixth century a.d. From a comparison with similar portraits on ivory plaques of that period, it has been identified either with the Byzantine Empress Ariadne, wife of Zeno (a.d. 476-91), and afterwards of his successor Anastasius I (a.d. 491-518), who owed his advancement to her favour, or else with the Gothic Queen Amalasuntha, daughter of Theodoric, who assumed the reins of power on \ Fasn Consubrei '0_ ■»^ to c /^ — ^ / Odrden 1 1 Courtyard 5: Corridor I 1 Fasri Modernl /il I 1 « 1 i 1 — 1 ^^ Tombs Archaic 1 5 ra incase PALAZZO DEI CONSERVATORI (FIRST FLOOR.) his death in A.D. 526 as regent for her son Athalaric, and was afterwards exiled and put to death by his successor Theodahad. Note also the bust of a boy wearing a closely fitting cap, which marks him as a driver in chariot-races (cf. p. 218), and another of a youth whose features are clearly of African type (thick nose, prominent lips, and high cheek-bones). In the second room, on the R., is an altar which illustrates Augustus' reorganisation of the city of Rome. There was an ancient worship of the Lares — gods of the land and 13^ THE CAPITOL [vn. house by origin— in the vici or " wards" of the city, which had fallen into neglect. When Augustus divided Rome into fourteen regions, he revived this worship, but with a significant change. The Lares were now called Lares Augusti^ and there was coupled with them the "Genius" of the Emperor. The ceremonies of this cult were placed in charge of the Vicoinagistri or " presidents of the ward," and this petty dignity attracted the members of the city piebs and confirmed their devotion to the Government. On the front of our altar — set up by a body of such vicoinagistri in A.D. 2 — we see the sacrifice of a pig to the Lares (compare the scene on the triumphal relief of M. Aurelius described above) ; on either side is a Lar, represented as a statue on its base, bearing a laurel branch, and on the back are the remains of an oak wreath — the " civic crown " conferred by the Roman people on Augustus. Having passed through the three rooms, we come to a corridor with rooms to R. and l,. On the R. is a group in the style of Pergamene art which represented a combat between a snake-footed giant and two Satyrs. The first opening on the R. leads into the Sala degli orti Lamiani or " Hall of the Park of Lamia." We know that a certain ^lius Lamia — perhaps the aristocratic friend of Horace addressed in three of his Odes — had once possessed a park on the Esquiline adjoining that of Maecenas, in which the body of Caligula was secretly burnt and buried ; and it has been supposed that the Villa Palombara, pulled down in order to build the new streets to the S. of Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, occupied its site. Important finds of sculpture — including the famous Massimi discobolus (see p. 219) — have been made from time to time in this region ; and the antiques collected in this room at least give a vivid impres- sion of the crowd of marbles with which the parks of Roman nobles and emperors were peopled, and also of the eclectic taste which put works of all periods of art side by side. By the R. wall, for example, we see (36) the head of a Centaur which is worthy of comparison with that of the Centaur in the Capitoline Museum, but may belong to the VII.] The CAPITOL 139 Pergamene rather than to the Rhodian school, and beside it (42) a bust of Heracles derived from an original of Scopas, known to us from a fine statue in Lansdowne House. At the end of the room on this side are two statues of girls (one wrongly restored as a Muse with a lyre) which belong to the Praxitelean school — or rather, perhaps, to that which drew inspiration from his models and reproduced them with many variations in the early Hellenistic age. Facing the door is a half-length figure of the Emperor Commodus, the unworthy son and successor of M. AureHus, with the attributes of Hercules — the form under which he delighted to receive adoration. It is well worthy of study as one of the finest examples of the new style in sculpture which dates from the Antonine period (cf. p. 38) : note the contrast between the highly polished surface of the face and the deeply drilled hair and beard with their chiaroscuro of light and shadow. The pedestal was hidden by kneeling figures of Amazons supporting a shield, beneath which is a celestial globe. We are reminded that Commodus bore the name Amazonius^ and gave it to the month of December in the year whose months were renamed after his titles. Beside the figure are placed two Tritons, obviously composed as pendants. It is by no means certain that they were originally grouped with the statue. In the middle of the hall is a nude female statue commonly known as the Venus of the Esquiline. The meaning of the figure is determined by the vase adorned with a serpent and the box of flowers at its side ; these indicate that the girl is a priestess or at least a worshipper of I sis. But the style of the figure, especially of the head, point to fifth-century Greek art, and the sculptor clearly belonged to the archaising school of the Late Republic and Early Empire which harked back to Greek — especially Peloponnesian— models. The question must still be asked : What was the significance of the original 1 It has been con- jectured that the subject was mythological : Atalanta was portrayed in the moment when, after bathing and anointing herself, she tied up her hair before starting on her famous I40 THE CAPITOL [vii. race. It may be, however, that a mortal athlete— like the girl-racer of the Galleria dei Candelabri (p. t^TiJ) — was re- presented. Apart from the symbols of I sis worship, the late date of the work is made clear by the naturalistic modelling of the lower part of the body, which is out of keeping with the archaic severity of the head and chest. Of the statues on the L. wall the most interesting are those which illustrate Hellenistic ,^^^-^r^-sculpture — the shep- herdess carrying a lamb (head restored), the old fisher- man, and the boy aiming a nut at a pyramid of four nuts on the ground. Beside the door is the tombstone of the infant prodigy, Q. Sulpicius Maximus, who, as the inscrip- tion records, was successful in a competition for extemporisa- tion in Greek verse founded by Domitian, and died of over- work at the age of eleven and a half! His poem — which deals with the wrath of Zeus against Apollo for lending his chariot to I'haethon — is inscribed on the sides of the niche in which stands the figure of the child, who probably held his stilus in the hand which has been broken off. This interesting monument was not found in the "Gardens of Lamia," but had been built into the wall of Aurelian near the Porta Salara (p. 358). By the L. wall of the corridor we see a headless statue of Apollo holding a lyre and wearing the flowing robes of a citharcedtcs. The style of the drapery is that of the school of Phidias. Beyond are two colossal statues of Roman magistrates, one elderly and one youthful — they may have been father and son, as they were discovered together — belonging to the fourth century A.D. and affording an admirable illustration of the stiff conventional art of that period, as well as of the costume of the time. Each of them holds in his uplifted hand the mappa or handker- chief which was dropped as a signal for the starting of the chariot races in the circus, and is clad in the full dress proper to such an occasion- a close-fitting sleeved tunic, a " dalmatic " or upper tunic with shorter and looser sleeves, and an embroidered toga ; he also wears the high boots of the senator. Notice also a female statue of severe fifth- VH.] THE CAPITOL 141 century style reconstructed from many fragments : two runners about to start in almost identical attitudes, from bronze originals of the early fourth century B.C. ; a relief in the so-called "Hellenistic" style with landscape and build- ings, and at the end of the corridor a large sarcophagus decorated with a representation of the Hunt of the Caly- donian Boar — a subject often found on sarcophagi, chosen, perhaps, on account of the early death of Meleager, the hero of the scene. Note that the faces of the husband and wife whose figures adorn the lid of the sarcophagus are only blocked out. The makers of sarcophagi kept numbers of them in stock, and only executed portraits to order if they were required. By the R. wall observe a small slab with a representation of stage-buildings in relief, and the tombstone of a shoe- maker, C. Julius Helius. In a niche is the bust of Helius, a bald-headed, elderly man, portrayed with ruthless realism — an admirable character sketch of a shrewd, close-fisted tradesman. Two lasts are carved on the pediment above the niche. The date is about A.D. 100. Here we pass into the Garden, which contains statues of minor importance : notice, however, the group of a lion devouring a horse by one of the fountains, which stood in the Capitol Piazza during the Middle Ages (p. 102), and was admired by Michelangelo. On the far wall of the garden are arranged the fragments of the Marble Plan of Rome once attached to the fagade of the building now converted into the church of SS. Cosma e Damiano. Most of these fragments were discovered in the sixteenth century, and several have been lost. The remainder, together with some found in recent years, have been arranged as far as possible in their proper positions and the main outlines of the missing portion filled in. The orientation customary in modern plans is reversed, and the top repre- sents the south, the scale being about ^i^o- The plan in its present form was engraved under Septimius Severus, as we see from the inscription Severi et Ajtto7zini Augg. nn. (i.e. Augustoruvi 7iostrorum) on the fragment which shows the 142 THE CAPITOL [vii. Clivus Victoria;; but this was only a restoration, made necessary by the great fire at the close of Commodus' reign, of the plan originally traced in the reign of Vespasian, who caused a fresh survey of the city to be made. From the garden we return through the corridor to the rooms opening on to it on the further side. The farthest from the entrance is the Sala degli orti Mecenaziani, or " hall of the park of Maecenas," which contains the statues found in that part of the Esquiline where the gardens of Moecenas (p. 221) are believed to have been situated. In the L. corner is a colossal head said to have been found between Narni and Todi, and identified as Mrecenas from its likeness to two ancient gems, signed by the artists Dioscurides and Solon. One if not both of these seem to be modern ; but a genuine example was extant in the seventeenth century. It is, however, a pure conjecture that they represent Mciecenas ; and it has been suspected that this head is a modern work based on the gem of Dioscurides. Few ancient heads are in such a perfect state of preservation. To the R. of the door is a beautiful relief representing a dancing Masnad, brandishing a knife in her uplifted R. hand and half of a fawn in her L. She belongs to a group of figures which pictured the rout of Bacchus in a series of flowing curves of the utmost grace. The consummate skill with which the limbs of the Mienads are shown beneath the almost transparent drapery was one of the most remark- able attainments of Attic sculptors in the latter part of the fifth century B.C. to which the originals belonged. Those who have visited Athens will recall the wonderful fragments of the balustrade which enclosed the precinct of Athena Nike (" Wingless Victory '0- By the R. wall is a youthful figure wrongly restored with a lyre. It should be compared with the Eros of Centocelle in the Vatican (see p. 289). Passing by a powerfully built warrior in violent action — probably to be restored as Heracles with club in the R. hand — we come to a fine example of the head of that Amazon which we have attri- buted to Cresilas (see p. 12.3) ; the restraint and severity of VII.] THE CAPITOL 143 fifth-century art enhances the pathos of the expression. The most interesting statue on the opposite side of the room is that of Marsyas in pavoiiazzetto. The legend which it illustrates gave imaginative form to the preference of the Greeks for their national instrument— the lyre — as compared with the Phrygian flute. Athena, it was said, invented the flute, but when she saw the reflection of her distended cheeks as she played it, flung it away and solemnly cursed it. The Satyr Marsyas picked it up, mastered its music, and challenged Apollo, the divine lyre- player, to a contest. The Muses awarded the prize to the God, who caused Marsyas to be flayed alive. The first scene in this drama was represented in a famous group by Myron, to which belonged the Marsyas of the Lateran (p. 235) ; the finale^ which repelled earlier Greek sculptors, was triumphantly rendered by Hellenistic artists. There is a group of statues in white marble which represent Marsyas bound, but without the refinements in the indica^ tion of torture which we here see. The type exemplified by this figure and others in pavonazzetto — chosen in order to suggest by its red streaks the congestion of blood in the veins of the tortured Satyr — belonged to a group completed by the figures of a slave sharpening his knife on a whet- stone, of which there is a copy in Florence, and doubtless also of Apollo. It was the work of one of the later Hellen- istic schools which carried the study of anatomy to a point hitherto unattained ; we can see, in fact, that the rendering of anatomical detail was the chief interest of the sculptor. We pass through the door to the L. of the Marsyas into the Room of the Bronzes, which contains the nucleus of the collection originally formed under Sixtus IV. The most important of these works had, it seems, been pre- served in the Papal palace of the Lateran during the Middle Ages ; they are amongst the few ancient statues which have never been buried in the earth. On the R. as we enter is a remarkable bronze head, which commonly bears the name of L. Junius Brutus, the founder of the Roman Republic, which has been given to it on account of 144 THE CAPITOL [vii. the resemblance of its profile to that of the head of Brutus on the coins struck by his great descendant, the murderer of Caesar. Whether the identification be accepted or not we certainly have here the portrait of a Roman of the Republic— not, however, the work of a Roman artist, but of a Greek, for with all its hardness of feature it has the touch of idealism which betrays the Hellenic sculptor. It is not of course a contemporary portrait of Brutus, but it may have been an ideal representation of the man who gave Rome political freedom, and set in the execution of his sons the crowning example of the cardinal virtue of the Roman — the sacrifice of individual interests and passions for the good of the State. On the opposite side of the room, to the l.. of the door, is a graceful statue of a boy clad in a tunic and sandals, which we might take at first sight for a Greek work, but which really represents a camillus or acolyte such as we have seen in attendance at public sacrifices. There is a singular charm in the simplicity and refinement of the youthful figure, which should be restored with a bowl in the R. hand and a pitcher in the L. ; but the face lacks ex- pression, and the statue reveals itself on examination as the handiwork of the " classicizing " school of the Late Republic which looked to fifth-century Greece for inspiration. In the details, however, the Roman love of accuracy shows itself The camilli wore the pratexta^ i.e. a white tunic edged with narrow stripes of purple, and these are represented by an inlay of silver. Notice, too, the hems of the sleeve-openings and the patterns on the sandal-straps. Very different is the beautiful statue of the Boy extract- ing a thorn from his foot on the opposite side of the door. It is impossible to see in this work anything but a Greek original of the middle of the fifth century B.C. The pose and proportions of the figure show a wonderful observation of nature ; only in one detail do we notice the deliberate departure from actuality which the Greeks never shunned if it seemed to them to be demanded by artistic necessity. The long, curling hair would of course naturally fall over VII.] THE CAPITOL 145 the cheeks and hide the childish face, with its intent gaze, which the artist desired to represent. It is interesting to note that in a statuette of the Hellenistic age now in the British Museum which reproduces the motive of our statue — evidently one of the famous works of ancient art — in a form modified according to the realistic practice of that time, the boy has close, curly hair. There is a difficult question as to the meaning of the statue. The Hellenistic figure just mentioned is without doubt just such a bit of genre sculpture as was dear to later Greek art — we have seen some examples already in the Hall of the Gardens of Lamia. But pure genre was unknown in the fifth century B.C. ; and two explanations of the motive alone seem possible. Either it was mythological ; there was a legend, for example, that Locrus, the ancestor of the Locrians who lived to the N. of the Corinthian Gulf, had founded his city on the spot where, as an oracle foretold, he had wounded his foot with a thorn : or the statue was votive, and had reference to an incident in the life of the boy represented — possibly in an athletic contest in which he came off victorious in spite of the injury. In the corner of the room is a colossal bronze head, which has been variously identified. A common view is that it represents Nero in his youth ; but the only detail which lends any colour to this is the wavy hair. The stiff pose and fixed gaze point rather to the Constantinian period. Perhaps one of the sons of Constantine may be the subject. On the opposite side of the door leading into the corridor is a bronze crater ox mixing-bowl, chiefly interesting on account of its inscription, which tells us that it was presented by Mithridates Eupator — the great king of Pontus who defied so long and so successfully the armies of Rome and was at last conquered by Pompey — to an athletic club. The "Gymnasium" named in the inscription may perhaps have been at Athens, which was taken and sacked by Sulla in 86 B.C. Notice, too, the fragmentary figures of a bull and a horse, this latter a fine piece of Greek work ; also a couch and 146 THE CAPITOL [vii. litter, restored (in part wrongly) with a modern wooden framework upon which the ancient fragments of bronze, inlaid with copper and silver, have been fastened. The next room contains a collection of vases, terra-cottas, and bronze objects which illustrate the importation of Greek fabrics into Italy and their imitation by the Etruscans. From this we pass back to the corridor. To the R. are door- ways leading to rooms in one of which is preserved a tensa^ or ceremonial chariot in which the images of gods were carried in the solemn possession which took place before the celebration of the games in the circus. The ancient bronze plates decorated with scenes from the story of Achilles, together with others of Dionysiac import. The plaques were pressed in moulds, and the same scene is repeated many times. The wooden framework is modern. Next is a room whose floor is partly made of blocks belonging to the enclosing wall of the Area Capitolina^ or platform upon which the temple of Jupiter stood (p. loi). Besides architectural fragments, the room contains two Sarcophagi containing skeletons, found in digging the foundations of the new Law Courts in the Prati di Castello. They were those of a certain Gaius Crepereius Euhodus, and of a girl, Crepereia Tryphasna, perhaps his daughter. The skeleton of this latter is adorned with a golden wreath and other jewellery, such as a ring inscribed with the name Filetus. With her was buried a doll, also wearing a ring. The style in which the hair of this doll is dressed and the lettering of the inscriptions show that Crepereia lived in the second century a.d. On the L. wall of the entrance to this room is a curious fragment of fresco painting found in a tomb on the Esquiline. The scenes are arranged in narrow bands, and seen to illustrate episodes in the Samnite wars. We see a parley held between two generals outside the walls of a besieged city, another meeting between two commanders with their armies and a battle scene. It has been thought that these may be copied from, or at least reproduce the style of, the wall paintings of Fabius Pictor, one of the earliest of Roman artists, in the temple of Salus buijt in 302 B.C. VII.] THE CAPITOL i47 The last room to the R. contains Archaic sculptures which are interesting to those who would study the develop- ment of early Greek sculpture. The finest of these works is the young charioteer copied from a bronze group set up at Olympia or Delphi to commemorate a victory in the chariot-race, and dating from the period just after the Persian wars. Notice the long robe worn by Greek drivers. Early female statues, with their elaborate yet conventional drapery, are exemplified in the torsos on the R. near the window, and the figure of Nike (Victory) to the L. There are also grave-reliefs of the archaic period (notably one which represents a girl holding a dove) and a kneeling figure interpreted as that of an Amazon stringing her bow. On the R. is an interesting statuette belonging to the middle of the fifth century : a woman is represented in flight carrying a child on each arm (one lost). This was Leto with her children Apollo and Artemis, flying from the Python. The original was dedicated in the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Notice also the colossal foot by the window, wearing a sandal decorated with Tritons and Erotes. We now return to the staircase and ascend to the upper floor, noticing on the R. a curious relief dedicated to the Palmyrene divinities Agfibolos and Malachbelos, dated by its inscription to the year 235-6 a.d. They are repre- sented as youths clasping hands, the one arrayed in Greek armour, the other wearing Oriental costume. In the back- ground is the sacred cypress which we saw on the Altar of the Sun in the Capitoline Museum. In a niche to L. on the upper landing is a fine female figure restored as "Roma." The head was that of an early Athena ; but it does not belong to the body, which is shown by a comparison with better preserved copies to have represented Persephone, holding poppies and ears of corn in her R. hand and a torch in her L. The relief with the apotheosis of Sabina has already been described. There are also two mosaics in coloured marble slabs (called by the Romans opus sectile) which represent oxen torn by 148 THE CAPITOL [vii. beasts of prey. These are by far the most important examples of this kind of work preserved to us from antiquity. They belonged to the basilica, or public hall, built on the Esquiline (near S. Maria Maggiore) by Junius Bassus,^ consul in a.d. 317, and afterwards converted into a church of S. Andrew. From this landing we enter the Upper Corridor, near the entrance of which are several mosaics. The most interesting (though not for resthetic reasons) is one with the curious symbol of an eye pierced by a spear and surrounded by beasts and birds. The inscription shows that it belonged to the entrance of a building on the Caslian called the Basilica Hilaria7ia^ which was probably a chapel dedicated to some mystical cult. From such private chapels the name basilica passed into its Christian use. In the remainder of the corridor are cases containing terra- cottas, etc. (on the L.) and bronzes on the R. Amongst the former are several of the plaques with designs repeated from moulds which we shall see in other museums used as architectural decorations— e g. for the cornices of walls — especially at the close of the Republican period (see p. 179). In the case beyond the second door on the L. are modelled and painted terra-cottas of early date used for decorating the pediments and gutters of temples. The Romans learnt the use of these from the Etruscans (cf p. 353), and one of these — in the form of a female head — which was found in the cloister of S. Maria in AraceH, must have belonged to one of the earliest temples on the Capitol. Amongst the statuettes in the next case will be noticed a small alabaster bust with a female head of coloured glass (flesh pink, painted yellow, hair black) with eyes inserted in silver. Further on are fragments of a pediment group in terra- cotta, perhaps of the second century B.C. Amongst the bronzes on the R. notice a statuette of a Lar, like those represented on the altar described above (p. 137). In the further case are objects from the early cemeteries on the heights of the Quirinal and Esquiline ; and at the end of ^ Jiis sarcophagus may be seen in the crypt of St. Peter's. VII.] THE CAPITOL 149 the corridor is a colossal statue of Heracles in gilt bronze, which was found in the Forum Boarium in the fifteenth century, when the remains of the Ara Maxima were destroyed. In his R. hand he holds the apples of the Hesperides ; the club in the L. rested on a support, pro- bably a mass of rock. The workmanship is poor and of relatively late date, but the type is no doubt derived from the school of Lysippus. [For the picture-gallery in the rooms to the L. see Christian Roine^ p. 345.] On leaving the museum, we may either ascend by the steps on the R. which lead through a sixteenth-century portico to the Via di Monte Tarpeo, in which is the German Archaeological Institute (r.) and (l) the Casa Tarpea, from the garden of which there is a view of the sheer cliff which has been identified with the Tarpean rock whence criminals were hurled ; or we may take the narrow street leading downwards to the Forum, in which is the entrance to the Tabularium or Public Record Office mentioned on p. 47. We pass through a flat arch, the space under which may have been used as a sentry-box by the guard of the Capitol. Turning to the R. we find ourselves in the long gallery which overlooked the Forum. All the arches save one of the Doric arcade are now blocked, and the gallery is used as a museum for architectural fragments from the temples below it. The most remarkable of these are (at the further end) the cornice of the temple of Concord, with its charac- teristic wealth of ornament, almost every member being enriched with foHage, egg-and-dart mouldings, and other decorative motives, and the cornice and frieze of the temple of Vespasian, which is even more ornate. Notice the ox-skulls, sacrificial emblems (jug, bowl, axe, knife, and sprinkler), and priest's cap with apex (p. 217) and cheek- straps carved in relief on this frieze. The eleven bays of the gallery were roofed with concrete vaulting, and some of them opened on to small square chambers at the back. Originally, no doubt, the gallery was open at both ends and formed a covered way for foot-passengers ; but the north- eastern end was blocked when the mediaeval tower was I50 THE CAPITOL [vii. built at that corner. At the back of the gallery was a mas- sive substructure in which were vaulted chambers. The modern staircase at the N.E. end of the gallery leads (through an aperture in the wall) into one of these chambers, from which a staircase led down to a lower passage running beneath the gallery, with deep embrasures and windows overlooking the Forum, except at the north-eastern end, where they would have been blocked by the older Temple of Concord. The modern staircase leads up to the tower of the Palazzo del Senatore which commands the view of Rome mentioned on p. 5. It is not clear how the upper part of the ancient Tabularium was planned. Above the gallery was an upper story with an order of Corinthian columns. Some fragments of these may be seen in front of the Portico of the Twelve Gods (p. 49). At the back there was no doubt a court which opened on to the space which is now the Piazza del Campidoglio. This was ap- proached directly from the Forum by a staircase of which sixty-six steps are still in existence. The doorway was blocked by the erection of the Temple of Vespasian. There was also a series of rooms — probably two stories — which opened on the road leading up to the Arx on the N.E. (now the Via dell' Arco di Settimio Severo). In one of these chambers, engraved on the flat arch of a doorway, are the remains of the inscription which gives the name of the builder of the Tabularium — Q. Lutatius Catulus, consul in 78 B.C. and leader of the Senatorial party after the death of Sulla. The building is the finest extant monu- ment of Republican architecture. The fagade, which must be studied from the Forum, is notable for its regular masonfy in " headers " and " stretchers " ; the interior is an early example of concrete vaulting, and also illustrates the care with which Roman builders selected their materials accord- ing to their destined position and function — e.g. tufa for the inner walls, travertine for arches, staircases, etc. ! [T VIII THE IMPERIAL FORA HE increase of population and business in ancient Rome made the Forum Romanum too small for the needs which it served. New law-courts, exchanges, and public halls became a necessity, and Julius Caesar, when he rebuilt the Senate-house and changed the aspect of the northern end of the Forum, planned a new place of public resort which adjoined it on the N.W. and henceforth bore the name of Forum Julium. The design was that of a piazza surrounded by colonnades and offices, and contain- ing a temple— that of Venus Genetrix (" the mother ") from whom he traced descent through JEneas. Other emperors — Augustus, Vespasian, Domitian, Nerva, and finally Trajan, followed his example, and thus the whole of the region to the N. and N.W. of the Forum was turned to public uses and covered with monumental buildings and temples, the extant remains of which can give us but a poor idea of their departed magnificence.] From the church of SS. Martina e Luca an unsavoury thoroughfare (partly in course of destruction) leads to Piazza del Foro Trajano, and in an alley to the R. (the Via delle Marmorelle) are to be seen (in the court of No. 29) the remains of massive double arches mainly of tufa (with springers and keystones of travertine) which gave access to the chambers and offices enclosing the Forum of Julius Csesar. Of the magnificent temple of Venus Genetrix in the centre of the Forum not a trace now remains, but fragments of the Corinthian columns and frieze were dis- 151 152 THE IMPERIAL FOR A [viii. covered] in the sixteenth century. It was vowed by the Dictator on the battlefield of Pharsalus and dedicated after his triumph in 46 B.C. In front of the temple stood an equestrian statue of Caesar and a fountain with statues of nymphs. Augustus built a third Forum to the N. of that of Julius, and with its longer axis perpendicular thereto. If we follow the Via Bonella, which, as explained above, passes between the Senate-house and the offices appertaining to it, and cross the Via Alessandrina, we shall come to the only portion of this Forum which is preserved. On the L. are the three columns and architrave which alone remain of the peristyle of the splendid temple of Mars Ultor, vowed by Augustus on the battlefield of Philippi and dedicated in 2 B.C. The walls of the temple were of peperino with marble lining. This temple of Mars gave to the Forum of Augustus its distinctive note. In it were deposited the eagles and standards recovered from the Parthians in 20 b c, and ceremonies such as the leave-taking of generals and the granting of Imperial triumphs took place there. Its vaults contained the aerarium militate or military treasury. The Forum itself was to be the " national Valhalla " in which the heroes of Rome's victorious struggles were to find a place. On either side of the temple the enclosing wall of the Forum expanded into a great apse with niches in which were placed bronze statues of all the Generals of the Republic who had celebrated a triumph, with inscriptions (called elogid) giving the details of their career. The statues are irretrievably lost, but many of the inscriptions have been recovered in whole or part. The northern half of the easternmost apse, with its empty niches, towers on the R. of the Via Bonella, and twenty feet below the street level is the ancient pavement of the Forum, which became a swamp in the course of the Middle Ages, so that the new streets built in the sixteenth century had to be raised on high foundations. Tiberius erected triumphal arches on either side of the temple of Mars in honour of Drusus and IL. ,' ' E o ,^ . . . . CM ; -. -m-- . Cl , ' 1- E'c; o s- o '-., la > ,' ex -^ •o , ■ J '•'- ' ^r-^. I 154 THE IMPERIAL FOR A [Vill. Germanicus, but no trace of them remains. At the €nA of the Via Bonella we pass through the Arco dei Pantani of "Arch of the Swamps," greatly reduced in height by the rise in the street level, and find ourselves in the Via di Tor dei Conti. The first thing that we notice is the irregular outline of the wall enclosing the Forum which we have just left : the arch itself is placed obliquely to the axis of the Forum. The reason of this is that Augustus, with his unfailing tact and conciliatory disposition, refused to resort to compulsory expropriation in order to acquire the site for his Forum, which was densely populated, and preferred to submit to a want of symmetry in its outline. The wall itself is a magnificent specimen of early Imperial masonry. It is built with two varieties of volcanic stone — the lower part of the hard sperone from Gabii, the upper of the cheaper and less durable peperino from the Alban hills. At intervals of fifteen courses there is a projecting course of travertine, which is also used for the voussoirs of the Arco dei Pantani. The original height of the wall was no feet, of which 86 are now above ground. [In A.D. 71 Vespasian built a Temple of Peace to cele- brate the conclusion of the Jewish war, and the enclosed piazza in which the temple stood came to be known as the Forum of Peace. It lay to the N.E. of the Forum Roma- num, and all that can be seen of it is the small space which has been cleared at the back of SS. Cosmae Damiano (cf p. 78). The Temple and Forum of Peace became a veritable museum of works of art, both statuary and painting, ruth- lessly plundered by Nero to adorn his Golden House, and thence transferred by Vespasian to a spot where they could be enjoyed by the people of Rome.] Between the Forum of Augustus and that of Vespasian ran the main thoroughfare connecting the Forum Romanum with the eastern heights. This passed between the Senate- house and the Basilica /Emilia, and was known at first as the Argiletum ; it led into the crowded and busy quarter of the Subura. Here Domitian planned — though he did not live to complete— a Forum, which, like those of his predecessors, VIII.] THE IMPERIAL FORA 155 contained a sumptuous temple. This was dedicated to Minerva, a goddess whose worship was especially dear to Domitian, a man of literary tastes. It stood at the northern end of his Forum, which was long and narrow, and has almost completely disappeared. If, however, we turn to the R. from the Via di Tor dei Conti into the Via di Croce bianca, we shall see at the intersection of this street with the Via Alessandrina a fragment of the eastern enclosing wall of the Forum with two columns {Le Colomtacce) belonging to the colonade, half buried in the ground. The cornice and attic of the wall project and are returned round these columns. On the attic is a figure of Minerva in relief, and the frieze is decorated with scenes representing the arts of peace — spinning, weaving, etc. — over which the goddess presided. This Forum — often called the Forum Tra7isitoriuin — was completed and dedicated after the death of Domitian by Nerva, whose name it commonly , bears. [The depression to the N. of the Forum Romanum was now filled with public buildings : but Trajan was deter- mined to leave an enduring memorial of his reign and of his victories, and commissioned the architect Apollodorus of Damascus to design a Forum far surpassing in extent and magnificence those already in existence. In order to obtain a site for it the saddle which connected the S.W. spur of the Quirinal with the Capitoline hill was cut away and an artificial valley formed and levelled. The design of the Forum differed from the type erected by Julius Cassar in that there was no temple in the principal enclosure. This was a great square enclosed by colonnades, with hemicycles projecting to N. and S. It was entered on the side towards the Forum of Augustus by a magnificent triumphal arch, represented on the coins of Trajan, and an equestrian statue of the Emperor stood in the centre. The opposite side was flanked by the Basilica Ulpia, a long rectangular hall with apses at either end and two aisles (with a gallery above) on either side. Beyond the basilica was a rectangular court, in the centre of which stood the 156 THE IMPERIAL FORA [viii. spiral column supporting a statue of Trajan ; to the N. and S. were libraries of Greek and Latin literature.] From the remains of the Forum of Nerva we turn to the L. along the Via Alessandrina. The first turning to the R. is the Via di Campo Carleo. Here, in the court of No. 6, are to be seen remains of the northern hemicycle of the Forum — a row of chambers or shops opening on to a road paved in the usual manner with blocks of lava. An upper story and traces of a third are preserved. The fagade is of concrete faced with neat brickwork, which was of course stuccoed. Some parts (door-frames, capitals of pilasters, etc.) were of travertine. This is all that can be seen of the Forum proper. We go on to the Piazza del Foro Trajano, across which run four rows of broken shafts of grey granite, marking the position of the columns which divided the Basilica Ulpia into a nave and four aisles. Only the central portion is excavated. The longer axis was perpendicular to that of the modern piazza. The shafts do not belong to the bases upon which they have been placed, but (possibly) to the colonnade of the Forum. Beyond the remains of the Basilica rises the Column of Trajan, now crowned by a statue of St. Peter set up by Sixtus V in 1587. The shaft, base, and capital measure 100 Roman feet in height, and the column was therefore called coliimna centenariaj it also bore the name columna cochlis from the resemblance of its spiral to the shell of a snail. In the pedestal was a chamber wherein the ashes of Trajan — who died in Cilicia in A.D. 117 — were deposited by Hadrian in a golden urn. The entrance by a door in the E. side of the pedestal was reopened by Comm. Boni m 1906, and the chamber made accessible. It had, of course, been thoroughly rifled in the Dark Ages. The pedestal is deco- rated with trophies and supports the base of the column, carved with leaves of laurel in the form of a wreath. The shaft is composed of twenty-three blocks of Parian marble ; it is hollow and contains a spiral staircase of 185 steps, lit by forty-three narrow windows ; by this we may ascend to the platform formed by the Doric capital of the column. viil] the imperial FOR A 157 The significance of this monument has lately been the subject of controversy. The inscription over the doorway in the pedestal records the erection of the column by the Senate and people of Rome in the year a.d. 113, and adds the words "ad declarandum quantae altitudinis mons et locus tantis operibus sit egestus." T"^^ prima facie vcv^dimvi'g would seem to be that the column indicated by its height that of the mountain of earth which had been removed in order to clear the site for Trajan's buildings, and the words were undoubtedly taken in this sense by the historian Cassius Dio, who wrote but one hundred years later than the erection of the column. There is, however, great difficulty in suppos- ing that the saddle connecting the Quirinal with the Capitol approached 100 feet in height. Moreover, Comm. Boni's excavations in the near neighbourhood of the column brought to light an ancient road and other remains which had been in existence before the column was set up. He therefore proposed a new version of the inscription, taking the word " egestus " in the sense not of " cleared," but of '•'raised," supposing that the 100 feet measured, not the height of the hill which was removed, but that of the build- ings afterwards erected on the site. Other less satisfactory explanations of the crucial words have been offered, in order to evade the difficulty as to the levels. We have next to consider the spiral band of reliefs, on an average rather more than 3 feet in width, by which the column is adorned. It is of course impossible to appreciate them fully in their present position, and even in antiquity, when the column was surrounded by a gallery in two stories, the details must have been difficult to study ; yet even the most minute are often full of meaning. So far as we know this was the first example of a column so decorated ; and we cannot set a high aesthetic value upon the conception, which not only sets decoration above function, but reduces what should be pregnant with meaning to the level of orna- ment : for the number of those who will read the story told by the reliefs must always be few. They are, of course, most conveniently studied in a set of casts, such as those 158 THE IMPERIAL FOR A [viii. preserved in the South Kensington Museum (or, in Rome itself, in the Museum of the Lateran). However, with the aid of a pair of field-glasses, the most striking episodes may be seen from the piazza. The Dacians were a people who lived in the modern Transsylvania and also to the S. of the Carpathians in Wallachia and part of Roumania. We hear of them as a powerful and warlike nation in the reign of Augustus ; but it was not until the time of the Flavian emperors that that they became a serious menace to the security of the Danube frontier. Domitian waged war with them unsuccess- fully, and it was imperatively necessary for Trajan to retrieve the prestige of Rome and settle accounts with Decebalus, the king of Dacia, who had succeeded in establishing a great military power. He had, for example, enticed Roman engineers into his service and formed a park of artillery on the Roman model ; he had also sought allies amongst the neighbouring peoples, such as the Sarmatians of S. Russia (ancestors of the modern Slavs) who furnished him with a force of heavy cavalry clad in chain-mail. Even before he visited Rome for the first time as Emperor, Trajan had begun the construction of a military highway from the Rhine to the Danube, and in A.D. loi he invaded Dacia, and after two campaigns reduced its capital Sarmizegetusa (in S. Trans- sylvania) and imposed terms of peace on Decebalus. Soon afterwards, however, the Dacians rose in a last struggle for independence, and a second war broke out, which also lasted for two years (A.D. 105-6), and ended with the conquest of Dacia and its reduction to the status of a Roman province. Decebalus committed suicide. No contemporary historian has left an account of these wars, and it has bean said with truth as regards them that " material evidence constitutes the text, literary documents only the commentary." The narrative begins on the lowest band of the spiral, and is divided into two parts by the figure of a Victory between trophies half way up the column, which separates the story of the first war from that of the second. In the narrow space at the beginning we have a picture of the Danube with viil] the imperial FORA 159 \ forts guarded by Roman sentinels and boats from which stores are being unloaded. The river is personified by a colossal bearded figure in a cave, who stretches out his R. hand to encourage the Roman columns, which are leaving a fortified town and crossing a double bridge of boats. The town is Viminacium, now Kostolatz in Servia, and it seems probable that only one army, commanded by Trajan in person, is represented : others, however, hold that two columns crossing the river with a considerable interval between them in order to execute a converging movement ' are conventionally indicated. In any case, the troops which are crossing by the first bridge are Legionaries, the details I of whose marching kit are rendered with an exactitude which makes them invaluable to the students of Roman military antiquities ; while the column in front of them is ' composed of Praetorian Guards who always accompanied the Emperor. It is always possible to distinguish the legions ■ from the guards by the difference in their standards. The ; legionary ensigns are composed mainly of a series of metal I plates or shallow bowls, known as phalerae, which were granted to the legion as a mark of honour : above these we see a hand or other symbol peculiar to the corps. The ensigns ■ of the guard, on the other hand, are adorned with medallions bearing portraits of the Emperor or other members of his house, as well as wreaths or crowns which take the place of the phalerce. After the passage of the Danube we have some isolated scenes — a council of war, a sacrifice outside a camp, and a strange scene in which a barbarian, holding an enormous mushroom, falls backwards off his mule in awe at the un- xpected sight of the Emperor. (There is a reference to is episode in Cassius Dio.) After a harangue delivered to he troops by Trajan, the march begins, and we see the legions hewing their way through forests, bridging streams, and building camps. We know that Trajan's route lay along the spurs of the Western Carpathians, and that he then turned eastwards and attempted to gain access to the Trans- sylvanian plateau by the valley of the Temes. At the close I i6o THE IMPERIAL FORA [viii. of a march through forest we have a fine battle scene, with a figure of Jupiter the Storm-god hurling his bolts against the enemies of Rome. The Dacian king is seen in the forest to the R. The result of the battle is, however, indecisive. We see Trajan standing before an impregnable barrier, in front of which are a grisly row of skulls on poles. The inference is clear : Trajan was unable to force the defences of the Iron Gate Pass, which leads into Transsylvania, in his first cam- paign. Desultory operations followed ; we see a Dacian princess with her child about to embark on the Danube — doubtless a captive or hostage. Then the Dacians together with their allies, the mailed horsemen of the Sarmatian Steppe, are seen crossing the Danube and raiding Roman territory on the S. bank (in the modern Bulgaria). Trajan is forced to embark at a city with temples and amphitheatre, and after landing lower down the river, to come to the assis- tance of his hard-pressed troops. The Dacians are routed — we know that Trajan founded a city called Nicopolis, now Tirnovo in Bulgaria, to commemorate the victory — and the campaign ends with the distribution of rewards to the soldiers and the return of Trajan to his base of operations. (Between these scenes we see a group of Dacian women torturing Roman captives.) In the second campaign (that of a.d. 102) the army again crosses the Danube by a bridge of boats, and pursues a route different from that of the previous year, no doubt in order to turn the defences of the Iron Gate Pass. After forcing their way through mountainous country, in which the Moorish cavalry — recognisable by their long twisted curls of hair — form the advance-guard, under the command (as the his- torians tell us) of their chief Lusius Quietus, they engage and defeat the Dacians ; engines of war drawn by mules are here shown. The enemy's entrenchments are now stormed by irregular troops — amongst whom we notice Palmyrene archers in long skirts and conical helmets. Another for- tress is taken by legionaries with shields locked in a solid roof— the " tortoise " or testudo. Finally, after a pause in the action, marked by a harangue of the Emperor to his assem- VIII.] THE IMPERIAL FORA i6i bled troops and a quiet scene where their weary horses are watered at a stream, comes the crowning episode — the sub- mission of Decebalus, tendered in his capital Sarmize- getusa. This fine composition, extending over several slabs, is marked off by conventional trees at either extremity, and is symmetrically disposed. On the L. sits Trajan surrounded by his officers and his guards, with a forest of ensigns rising in the background. Before him kneel Dacians of high rank (the wearing of the peaked cap betokens this) imploring his clemency. Others stand behind them, and thep comes a crowd of kneeling suppliants. In the background is Sarmize- getusa, partly defended by massive walls of masonry, partly by outworks built with sawn logs. The war closes with the return of the conquered people, with their flocks and herds, to their mountain homes and the closing address of the Emperor to his troops. Their exploits are recorded by Victory on her shield — a motive borrowed from Hellenic art. The opening of the Second War is represented in a very different way. We see a harbour, which can be identified with certainty as that of Ancona on the Adriatic, both by the temple containing a statue of Venus and also by the arch which stands to this day on its quay. Hence a fleet of galleys put out to sea, bearing the Emperor and his guards. They are welcomed on the opposite coast of the Adriatic at lader (the modern Zara) by the assembled population. Trajan next visits a town with a large theatre and other buildings which may be identified with Salona^, and hence goes inland to inspect a camp occupied by legionaries — that of Burnum, in Dalmatia. He now takes ship again, and finally lands at a port from which by rapid marching through hilly country he reaches a spot where he is greeted both by Romans and by a friendly Dacian population, and offers sacrifice at six altars. Probably the harbour is Lissus, and the Dacians are settlers planted by Trajan, according to the practice of the emperors, on Roman soil. So far the narrative is clear, and the progress of the story rapid. What, however, was the motive which induced the artist to represent Trajan^s journey at length.^ It is ex- M 1 62 THE IMPERIAL FOR A [viii. plained by the scenes which follow. On a panoramic back- ground of mountains we see first the Dacians and their leader, who is receiving the reports of a reconnoitring party, then a Roman fort attacked by the enemy and gallantly de- fended ; lastly, a Roman garrison whose defences are almost carried when Trajan appears at the head of his cavalry and relieves it. We must read this part of the story as a whole, and see in it the explanation of Trajan's hurried departure from Ancona and his march by the shortest route to the Lower Danube. The Dacians have again raided the Roman province as they did in the first war. This is confirmed by the scene which follows, and forms the centre and pivot of the second series of reliefs. In the background is the great bridge with stone piers and wooden superstructure, thrown over the Danube by Trajan's orders not far from the Iron Gates, and designed by iVpollodorus, the architect of his Forum.i Here he receives embassies from a number of bar- barian tribes, minutely characterised by their dress and physical type ; and then — in the spring of a.d. io6 — the final campaign opens with the usual scenes of sacrifice, council of war, and Imperial harangue. This time the converging march of two armies on different lines of advance separated by a mountain range is clearly, if conventionally, indicated by the simple device of repre- senting one of the columns above the heads of the other, and divided from it by a shelf of rock. When the armies unite the end is near. The Dacian capital is represented no less than three times in the desire of the artist to tell the whole of his story — first in a compendious form, with the figures of Dacians running hither and thither in alarm at the approach of the Roman columns— then in the course of the siege, with incidents of attack and defence hardly to be conceived as contemporaneous ; lastly, in a magnificent panorama which, when examined, falls into three sections. In the first the Dacians are firing the doomed city ; in the second, those who prefer death to ^ The piers of this bridge are still in situ, though the upper part is lost. VIII.] THE IMPERIAL FORA 163 flight are grouped about a huge bowl of poison which has already claimed its victims ; lastly, we see a remnant of the conquered people leaving the city, which, we must suppose, was not closely invested. It has been suggested with much probability that this panorama of the Fall of Sarmizegetusa was inspired (as regards its composition) by the famous fresco of the Fall of Troy painted by Polygnotus at Delphi. After this climax the struggle becomes a war of episodes, recalling the closing scenes of the war between Briton and Boer in South Africa. One scene deserves special notice— the Suicide of Decebalus, who, when " rounded up " by the Roman cavalry, plunges a knife into his breast, just as the Gaul on a sarcophagus in the Capitoline Museum described above (p. 107). The last band of the spiral shows us a long train of cattle driven by the irreconcilable Dacians into the wild country beyond their borders. The great " epic in stone " has been justly admired as the most important example of an attempt to create a purely Roman art filled with the Roman spirit, and celebrating the triumph of Roman discipline and determination over bar- baric courage. The style has its conventions, but a little study will make them intelligible. The perspective is of course faulty, but the eye is soon accustomed to this defect, and is led to make allowance for it. The reliefs of the column were not the only ones inspired by Trajan's victories on the Danube. It has long been recog- nised that several slabs from a frieze in which episodes from the same wars are represented on a much larger scale exist in various places. Some were used to adorn the Arch of Constantine ; others are in the portico of the Villa Bor- ghese ; one is walled up in the garden front of the Villa Medici ; and a fine fragment has found its way to the Louvre. It is most likely that this frieze had its original place in the Forum of Trajan. At the western end of Trajan's buildings — where the twin churches of the Piazza del Foro Trajano now stand — a temple was built for the worship of the great Emperor by his successor Hadrian. It has, however, long been levelled to the ground. IX THE CAMPUS MARTI US r*^ I ^HE "field of Mars" — which took its name from an L X altar of the War-god set up, according to legend, by Romulus — was the name originally given to the whole of the low-lying land enclosed between the great bend of the Tiber and the slopes of the Capitol, Quirinal and Pincian ; and though the term was afterwards restricted in its application by Augustus, who made the Via Lata (" Broad Street "), which corresponds to the modern Corso, its eastern boundary, it is convenient to apply it to the whole region. This is now the most densely populated quarter of Rome, but it was quite otherwise in ancient times. Originally it was swampy in places, until the watercourses coming down from the Quirinal were regulated ; and the meadow- land which took the place of its marshes remained until late historical times in the ownership of the Roman people. Here it was that the Comitia centuriata^ or "assembly of the people by centuries," alway met, since it lay entirely without the pomerium (until it was extended by successive emperors) and martial law could be administered there. Under the later Republic, however, public buildings began to spring up in its southern portion. Augustus and Agrippa (cf. p. lo) did much to transform its aspect, and later emperors — notably the Flavians, Hadrian, and the Antonines— occupied most of the available space in the central region with their buildings.] In order to obtain a conspectus of the historical develop- ment of the Campus Martius it is best to begin at its 164 IX.] THE CAMPUS MARTIUS 165 southern extremity, in the narrow strip of land between the Capitoline hill and the river. Here the " Servian " wall had two gates, one of which — the Porta Carmentalis — was approximately on the line of the Via della Bocca della Verita. Without it was the Forum holitorium or " vegetable market" in the neighbourhood of Piazza Montanara, which forms a convenient starting-point. Close by to the S.W. is the church of S. Nicola in Carcere. Within, around, and beneath this church are the remains of three temples, all of which date from the time of the Republic, and over- looked the Forum holitorium on the W. Built into the fagade of the church and also in the interior are several columns belonging to these temples : and in the narrow lane to the L. of the church may be seen on the R. one which appears at first sight to belong to a strangely simplified form of the Tuscan order. The truth is that the mouldings of the capital were added in stucco and renewed from time to time with modifications in accordance with the prevailing taste of the day. The most southerly of the three temples, to which this column belonged, was that of Juno Sospita ("the Deliverer"), dedicated in 194 B.C., and such of its remains as exist beneath the church of S. Nicola are of traver- tine. The largest of the three temples was the central one, which must be that of Hope, built during the First Punic War and burnt once and again, but finally restored by Ger- manicus in a.d. 17. The most northerly was the temple of Janus, built in 260 B.C. by Gaius Duilius, the admiral in whose honour the Columna Rostrata (p. 132) was set up ; its history was much the same as that of its neighbour. The remains of the podia and ceila^ of these temples, which exist I beneath the church, are shown by the sacristan. Curiously 1™^ enough, the legend which has woven itself about the church is connected with none of them, but with that of a fourth, the temple of Pietas, dedicated in 181 B.C., but destroyed by Augustus to make room for the Theatre of Marcellus. The story ran that it was built on the site of the prison set up by Appius Claudius the decemvir, in honour of a daughter whose filial affection (" Pietas ") had saved her father's life i66 THE CAMPUS MARTIUS [ix. by bestowing on him the nourishment which should have been her child's : but the prison from which the church of S. Nicola takes its name was of the Byzantine age. In the Via del Teatro di Marcello, which branches to the N.W. from the Piazza Montanara, are the remains of the Theatre of Marcellus planned by Julius Caesar, but carried out by Augustus, who dedicated it in 13 B.C. to the memory of his nephew Marcellus, the son of his sister Octavia, whose untimely death in 23 B.C. was lamented by Vergil in a famous passage of the sixth ^neid. It saw partly saved from destruction by its conversion into a mediaeval stronghold, which ultimately became the posses- sion of the Orsini. The ruins of the stage-buildings and seats form the great mound of debris on which the Palazzo Orsini is built. What we see are the arcades of the ex- terior, with superposed orders as in the Colosseum. The lowest story, half buried in the earth and occupied by work- shops, is of the Doric, the seconci of the Ionic order : the third no longer exists. We are told that the theatre seated 14,000 spectators, but this is very doubtful. Not far from the Forum holitorium was the earliest Temple of Apollo, built in 429 B.C., and restored in 32 B.C. by Gaius Sosius, a general of Augustus, who filled it with works of art, notably the group of the Niobids (p. 324). Some remains of its substructure have been discovered to the S. of S. Maria in Campitelli (between Piazza Campi- telli and Via dei Sugherari). The region to the N. of the buildings which have been described was crowded with places of public resort and amusement. Nothing is now left of the Circus Flaminius, built in 221 B.C., which gave its name to the ninth of Augustus' fourteen regions ; but its remains were still extant in the sixteenth century, and the Via delle Botteghe Oscure takes its name from the external arcades, which must, like those of the Theatre of Marcellus, have been used as shops. If, however, we leave the Piazza Montanara by the Via del Teatro di Marcello, we shall come to the remains of the Porticus of Octavia; the entrance, with its Corinthian IX.] THE CAMPUS MARTIUS 167 columns and pediment, and some columns on either side, belong — as the inscription thereon shows — to a restoration carried out by Septimius Severus and Caracalla in A.D. 203. The porticus dates from 146 B.C., when Q. Caecilius Metellus, the conqueror of Macedonia, built temples to Jupiter and Juno and enclosed them with a colonnade, at the same time filling them with works of art, both old and new. Augustus restored the whole group of buildings and called them by the name of his sister Octavia. In the Middle Ages the fish market was established here, and the church of S. Angelo in Pescheria, to which the Jews were compelled to resort from the neighbouring Ghetto, arose on the site of the ancient temples. These sadly mutilated remains are all that now enables us to picture the lost magnificence of the buildings with which the whole of this quarter was covered. Not a trace is left of the Porticus Octavia (built by a Roman admiral, Cr. Octavius, in the second century B.C.), the Porticus Philippic named after the stepfather of Augustus (which may have been in the neighbourhood of Piazza Mattei), or of the Porticus Mi?iucia^ built in 109 B.C. and afterwards .restored and enlarged to serve as the centre of the corn distributions which pauperised the mob of Imperial Rome — unless, indeed, the remains of travertine piers with engaged half-columns which are to be seen in Via dei Calderari (which we may reach from the Porticus Octavia by crossing the site of the Ghetto and passing to the R. of the Palazzo Cenci) are to be assigned to the last-named of these. The Monte dei Cenci, upon which the palace stands, however, is formed by the ruins of the Theatre of Balbus, built by L, Cornelius Balbus, the son of a Spaniard raised to high honour by Julius Caesar, and dedicated in 13 B.C. It was smaller than the theatre of Marcellus, and had a covered foyer called the Crypta Balbi. Crossing the Via Arenula and the Piazza Benedetto Cairoli, we proceed along the Via dei Giubbonari towards the Campo di Fiore. To the R. were the buildings by the erection of which Pompey sought to win popularity in Rome as consul in 55 B.C. i68 THE CAMPUS MARTIUS [ix. Colonnades and halls— the Porticus Potnpeiance, afterwards restored by Diocletian — including the Curia Pompei in which Caesar was murdered, together with gardens and fountains, formed an enclosed park, to the N.W. of which was a theatre, the first permanent building of the kind in Rome, richly adorned with statues and paintings, and containing a temple of Venus the Victorious which Pompey was forced to build in deference to the clamour of the Conservative moralists. Nothing remains of its splen- dour but the two Pans in the Capitoline Museum (p. 105) which have given their name to the Piazza dei Satiri, where the stage buildings stood, the colossal Hercules of gilt bronze in the Vatican Rotunda (p. 278), and some other sculptures : the curve of the auditorium is preserved in that of the modern Via di Grottapinta. It is hard, indeed, with such scanty materials to conjure up a picture of this S.W. quarter, which had been thus covered with theatres and porticoes by the dawn of the Christian era. Before leaving it the traveller should pay a visit to the Palazzo Spada (turn to L. at the corner of the Campo di Fiore), which contains a few sculptures of exceptional interest. In the throne room is a colossal statue popularly believed to represent Pompey. The head bears no resemblance to the true portrait of Pompey— a head at Copenhagen which agrees with the type on the coins struck by his sons — and, moreover, does not belong to the statue, as may be seen by the fact that on the shoulders are traces of the loose ends of a fillet with which the hair of the original head was bound. Nevertheless, the story runs that head and body were found together (in the sixteenth century), but on either side of the boundary between two properties, and that the ownership of the statue was accordingly disputed. If the anecdote be true, we have an example of a practice common in antiquity — that of replacing the original head of a portrait- statue by that of some popular personage of later date. The name of Pompey was bestowed upon this statue because it was found not far from the Cancelleria, and therefore near to Pompey's IX.] THE CAMPUS MARTIUS 169 theatre. The statue of Pompey in the Curia Pompei at the feet of which CcEsar was murdered was afterwards set up by Augustus outside the theatre ; and the statue before us, from its colossal size and the fact that it carried in the R. hand a globe surmounted by a Victory, whilst the R. hand was (probably) uplifted in the gesture of an orator commanding silence, was evidently that of a personage of the highest distinction. More than this we cannot say. In the gallery overlooking the courtyard of the palace are eight reliefs which help to give us some idea of the magnificence with which the walls of Roman palaces were decorated. These reliefs are evidently intended as panels to take the place of pictures. Their style and composi- tion is in many respects akin to painting rather than to sculpture. There has been much controversy as to the date of these reliefs and others of their class : see what was said on page 116 as to those in the Room of the Emperors. It is not disputed that elements of landscape — such as the rustic shrine and sacred tree, so familiar to us from wall- paintings like those of the Palatine (p. 92) or Pompeii — Were introduced into relief sculpture in the Hellenistic period ; but it is not proved that wall decoration of this elaborate kind was known before the days of the Empire. Moreover, while the influence of painting is not to be denied, it is none the less true that some of the figures in these compositions are adaptations of statuary types, and display the poverty of invention characteristic of Roman mythological art. Those who believe this series to date from the age of Cassar or Augustus admit that some — e.g. that of Paris and GEnone — are much later, and it is perhaps most probable that the whole set really belongs to the time of Hadrian. Some compositions of this kind seem to have been specially famous. Portions of two were found on the Palatine, representing Daedalus with Icarus, and a child- Satyr attended by a nymph : and replicas of both of these are in existence. I70 THE CAMPUS MARTIUS [ix. On the L. wall of the gallery we have the following subjects : — 1. Paris and Eros. The figure of Paris is taken from a larger composition, in which the three goddesses were shown. He is listening to the persuasive utterance of Eros, who is singing the charms of Aphrodite. The cattle which fill the lower part of the panel are a clumsy addition of the artist for the purpose of filling the space. 2. The death of Archemoros. Hypsipyle, banished from Lemnos, became the slave of Lycurgus, king of Nemea, and the nurse of his child Opheltes, who was killed by a snake whilst she was showing the " Seven against Thebes " the way to a spring. The heroes buried the child with state, founding the Nemean games in its honour, and changing its name to Archemoros, the "harbinger of death." The legend was the subject of a famous tragedy of Euripides, based on the deliverance of Hypsipyle by her long-lost sons, who were in the train of the Seven ; some remains of the lost play have recently been recovered in an Egyptian papyrus. 3. Paris and Qinone. Paris is about to leave his first love, (Enone, and sail to Greece on his fatal quest, inspired by Aphrodite's promises. Another version of this subject only differing in minor points from our relief has been pre- served, and shows that the river-god Scamander is an addition of the Roman artist. 4. The theft of the Palladium. Odysseus and Diomed have stolen the image of Athena upon which hung the fate of Troy, and are now quarrelling over their booty before the temple. The image was held by Diomed in the L. hand, which is wrongly restored. Notice the contrast be- tween the two heroes: Diomed embodies physical force, Odysseus cunning. 5. Adonis. The composition, with its rustic background (largely restored on the l.)j breathes the sentimental spirit of a Hellenistic idyll. Adonis has been wounded in the R. leg and is leaning on his spear to ease the pain. On the opposite side of the gallery IX.] THE CAMPUS MARTIUS \^l 6. Bellerophon and Pegasus. Bellerophon, an ideal statuary type, is in strong contrast with the horse, which is inferior in conception and execution, and the background, which is perfunctory. Passing by a cast of the Endymion relief in the Capitoline Museum, we come to 7. Amphion and Zethus. The myth of the sons of Antiope, like that of Hypsipyle and Archemoros, was made popular by a tragedy of Euripides, who contrasted the musician Amphion, to the strains of whose lyre the walls of Thebes arose, with the hunter Zethus. Our relief might serve as an illustration of his play. The contrast between two types of character is as clearly marked here as ii|^ the figures of Odysseus and Diomed in No. 4. 8. Daedalus and Pasiphae. Daedalus has made the wooden cow for Pasiphae, the queen of Minos, and is seated beside his handiwork. The subject is one familiar from Pompeian paintings. The want of dramatic action, and the choice of a subject so repugnant to modern taste, are characteristic of the mythological art of the Early Empire. In the picture-gallery of the palace is a seated statue which was long believed to be that of Aristotle. Not only, however, does the head — a Roman portrait — not belong to the statue, but the inscription, of which the first five letters can be read, should be completed — Arist[ippo]s. Thus the statue — in itself a fine piece of work — represented the pupil of Socrates and founder of the Cyrenaic school of philosophy. Leaving the Palazzo Spada, we make our way past the Palazzo Farnese, the Campo di Fiore and the Cancelleria to the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, beyond which lies the region occupied by the buildings of Augustus, Agrippa, and the Flavian emperors. Crossing the small Piazza of S. Pantaleo and turning to the L. we .see, at the angle of the Palazzo Braschi, the sadly mutilated remains of a sculptured group famous under the name of Pasquino, borrowed from a shoe- maker near whose house it was brought to light. The satirical epigrams which were posted on it when it was set up in its present position generally found their replies on the 172 THE CAMPUS MARTI US [ix. Marforio (see p. 104). The group was evidently a famous one, since two replicas— both discovered in Rome— exist in Florence, and fragments of two more are in the Vatican (p. 294). Both of these last replicas were found in Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli. The group represented Menelaus in the act of letting slip the body of Patroclus, which he was endeavouring to rescue from the advancing Trojans, in order to defend himself against the enemy. The pyramidal outline of the group, the contorted pose of the limbs of Patroclus, and the realistic treatment of the nude— to appre- ciate which the Vatican fragments must be studied — point to the Hellenistic age as the date of the original. Turning to \}% R. we find ourselves almost at once in the Piazza Navona, or, as it is now officially called, Circo Agonale, which preserves the form (though nothing more) of the Stadium of Domitian, once numbered amongst the finest buildings of Rome, which served as a temporary amphi- theatre when the Colosseum was damaged by fire (p. 243). Crossingits southern end and following the Via dei Canestrari, we pass the University, turn to L. by Piazza S. Eustachio, and through Via della Palombella reach the back of the Pantheon. We may first glance at the remains of the Baths of Agrippa, which are to be seen at the rear of the building. They were excavated in 188 1-2, and the architec- tural fragments have been as far as possible replaced in position, so that we can form some idea (though an imperfect one) of the great hall, with a large apse or exedra (added by Hadrian) immediately behind the Pantheon, and its columns oi pavonazzetto and red granite bearing an entablature of Pentelic marble (notice the frieze of dolphins and tridents).* We observe in passing that this hall has no connection with the Pantheon : the cross-walls between the two merely served the purpose of buttresses. The exterior of the rotunda, now denuded of its decoration, is bare and un- * Some remains of a domed hall belonging to the Baths of Agrippa, called the Arco della Ciambella, may be seen in the neighbouring street of that name. IX.] THE CAMPUS MARTIUS 173 attractive ; it is divided into four zones by plain cornices. Only the lowest of these was faced with marble, the others were decorated in stucco. It was roofed with tiles of gilt bronze, removed to Constantinople by the Byzantine Em- peror, Constans II, in A.D. 662. Notice in passing that the walls of the vestibule are not bonded with those of the rotunda. This has given rise to the notion that the two are not contemporary ; but they have been shown to rest on the same foundations. The portico, again, with its sixteen columns of red and grey granite, is quite separate from the vestibule, and is built on distinct foundations. We first of all notice the inscription on the frieze, "M. AGRIPPA L. F. COS. TERTIVM FECIT " (" Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul for the third time, built it") which with its bold lettering dwarfs the longer inscription on the architrave, recording the restoration of the building by Septimius Severus and Cara- calla in A.D. 202. It was only natural that the first of these inscriptions should be taken in its obvious sense, and that the whole building as it now stands should be identified with the Pantheon, or " all-holy " temple of Mars, Venus, and the other divine protectors of the Julian house, built by Ag^rippa, the general and adviser of Augustus, at the same time as his Baths, in the year 27 B.C. True, we were told by ancient writers that this building was burned in the great fire of A.D. 80 and restored by Domitian, and that the restored Pantheon was struck by lightning and again burned under Trajan in A.D. 1 10, to be once more restored by Hadrian. But it was thought that the design of the great rotunda had been the same throughout, and that successive restorations had only affected the details of its decoration. In 1892, however, a thorough investigation of the structure showed that throughout the building — particularly in the relieving arches upon which its stability depended — stamps of Hadrian's reign (and no others) are found on the bricks. It is therefore certain that Hadrian was the builder of the rotunda ; and it is, moreover, almost certain that the first building on the site — that of Agrippa — was not circular in form. Six or seven feet beneath the floor of the rotunda are 174 THE CAMPUS MARTIUS [ix. the remains of a pavement of coloured marble, which once covered a larger area, for it was removed when the circular foundation was laid, and can be traced beneath the portico. It would seem that this was an open space, for there are no traces of walls or foundations : on the other hand, foundation- walls have been discovered beneath the front row of columns and in the piazza which belonged (as it would seem) to a rectangular building facing southward with a projecting portico like that of the Temple of Concord (p. 48) ; and this may have been the form of Agrippa's building, which would then have covered the space now occupied by the piazza. There are also reasons for thinking that the raking cornices of the pediment are set at a steeper angle than that for which they were originally made ; in other words, that the portico of Agrippa's building had ten^ not eight, columns in the front, and that when re-erected by Hadrian to face N. instead of S., it was reduced in breadth. In front of this new Pantheon was a large piazza, paved with travertine and surrounded with porticoes. Between this piazza and the Stadium of Domitian were the Baths of Nero, afterwards restored by Severus Alexander and known by his name : no remains of these are now visible. We now enter the rotunda, noticing on either side of the vestibule the niches in which colossal statues of Augusta and Agrippa once stood. As a Christian church, dedicated to the memory of all the martyrs of Rome by Boniface IV in A.D. 609, as containing the tomb of Raphael and many other painters, and as the last resting place of the kings of United Italy, the Pantheon has its several interests for diverse types of travellers. But it is, above all, the most perfect monument of the architecture of Imperial Rome. To understand its place in the history of art some knowledge of that history is needed ; as to this see what is said on p. 23. Moreover, the system of arches and piers by which, when it was raised by Hadrian's architects and probably to the Emperor's own designs, its stability was assured, is entirely concealed by the internal decoration, and even this has been modernised from top to bottom. Nevertheless, the grandeur and simplicity IX.] THE CAMPUS MARTIUS 175 of the perfectly proportioned, self-contained interior, with its single opening admitting a stream of light sufficient to reveal the whole without giving a disturbing emphasis to any of the parts, cannot fail of their effect. The dome was probably painted blue in imitation of the vault of heaven and studded with golden stars. Beneath the bronze cornice there was a zone of decoration formed by pilasters and slabs of porphyry, serpentine and coloured marbles, ruthlessly destroyed in 1742 when the Pantheon was "restored" by Benedict XIV ; but this was the work of Severus and Caracalla, and it is generally held that in Hadrian's building there were open lunettes above the niches. This scheme drew attention to the fact (which is concealed by the present decoration) that the drum is not solid throughout, but is in reality resolved into a system of piers, between which the weight of the dome is distributed. Leaving the Pantheon and turning to the R., we come to the Piazza della Minerva, which takes its name from a temple of Minerva built by Domitian, who left his mark on this part of the Campus Martins. Besides magnificent temples dedi- cated to the Egyptian divinities, I sis and Serapis, on the site of which several of the Egyptian statues now in the Museo Capitolino were found in 1882, he built a colonnaded en- closure with shrines of the deified members of his family (Vespasian and Titus) known as the Porticus Divorum^ the position of which is given by a recently discovered fragment of the Marble Plan. Following the Via Pie di Marmo we come to the Piazza of the Collegio Romano ; and in this building (entrance in the side street. Via del Collegio Romano) is the Museo Kircheriano, which should be visited especially by those interested in the early history of Italy. The prehistoric collections are contained in a series of small rooms which are reached after traversing the ethnographic museum. Room 27. On the R. are flint weapons and implements, which show that Italy was the abode of man from the very earliest period. To the R. of the entrance are implements of the Old Stone Age (" Palaeolithic " period) found in the gravel 176 THE CAMPUS MARTIUS [ix. of the Tiber valley near the Ponte Molle ; Italy has so far yielded no such remains of the artistic handiwork of Palaeo- lithic man as the designs scratched on bone which have been found in France. In the far corner to R. are implements of the New Stone Age ("Neolithic" period), in which Italy appears to have received settlers of the race called " Mediter- ranean " or (in S. Europe) " Ibero-Ligurian." Room 28. Contains remains of this period from the Valle delle Vibrata on the Adriatic coast, where hut-foundations have been discovered belonging to every stage of prehistoric development. Room 30. On the R. of the entrance note the implements of copper and obsidian from graves in Latium. Copper was the first of the metals to be worked, and was for some time only used in its pure form. Room 31. Here we meet with the earliest products of the Age of Bronze (an alloy of copper and tin), with which began the dawn of a new civilisation in Italy. A new type of dwelling takes the place of the half buried huts. This is the pile=village, found in its earliest form in and about the lakes of Lombardy. The remains discovered in these lake dwellings (which resemble those found in Switzerland) may be seen in this room, and on the walls of the passage leading to the next room are hung plans of a type of village found in great numbers in the valley of the Po. They were built on dry land, but on a platform supported by piles and sur- rounded by a moat, and are called terremare^ since they have been converted by gradual decay into masses of rich loam full of organic remains. They were all mapped out on a regular plan, and there can be no reasonable doubt that in the race which introduced this methodical system into Italy we are to seek the ancestry of the Romans. It is also clear that the immigrants came from Central Europe. In Room 32 the most interesting object is the skeleton in the centre case, found in a tomb at Sgurgola in the Sabine hills with a copper dagger and stone implements, with traces of bright red pigment on the skull. It is very generally held that the primitive people of Italy removed the flesh from the IX.] THE CAMPUS MARTIUS 177 bones of their dead and then painted the skeleton : but it is possible that the pigment may have soaked into the skull from a cloth in process of decay. Note that the Italians of the Bronze Age who built the terremare cremated their dead. On the wall of the next passage is a photograph of a terraniara with several piles still in position. The bronzes and pottery found in these villages are exhibited in Rooms 33-35- Room 36. Here we come to the products of the Early Iron Age — the period which brings us to the borderland of history proper. The remains here shown were found in N. Italy, and seem to give proof of a new wave of immigration from the Danube basin. It is not, however, likely that the new-comers were of a different race from the inhabitants of the terremare^ whom they gradually displaced. The use of the new metal and the improved handicrafts which came in its train soon spread through the peninsula ; no doubt there was much shifting of population, and the Latins seem to have established themselves in the Lower Tiber valley, the Campagna and the Alban hills at this time. In Room 37 are several examples of two distinct types of urn, made, of the blackened clay which was in general use in this period, and used to contain the ashes of the dead. One is called the '' Villanova " urn from the site of an early cemetery near Bologna where hundreds of these objects were found. It has a long neck in the shape of a truncated cone and a squat belly, and was often closed with a kind of saucer used as a lid. This is the type in regular use to the north of the Apennines. The other is the hut=urn, which in various forms, sometimes nearly circular, sometimes oval and some- times rectangular, reproduces the dwelling-house of the living, often with much detail which helps us to understand its construction. This is found in Tuscany and especially in Latium. All its varieties may be studied here and in Room 39. Notice in Room 38, on the L. (beyond the window), the products of this period found in the Alban hills, which illustrate the relative poverty of the early Latins as seen in the furniture of their tombs. 178 THE CAMPUS MARTIUS [ix. In Room 40 we find ourselves in presence of a new and much richer civilisation. The centre case contains objects found in a tomb at Palestrina (the ancient Pr^neste). What strikes us at once is the beauty and minuteness of the gold-work, as seen in the plaque adorned with 131 figures of lions and other animals, which seems to have been worn on the breast or attached to a girdle, and the cylinders with delicate filigree ornament. Notice too the silver-gilt bowl with six snakes as handles, decorated with rows of beasts and birds and scenes of war and the chase which betray their Eastern origin by the use of the palm and the papyrus. Evidently the riches of the owner of the grave were derived from commerce with the East, in which Phoenician traders were the middlemen. Other bowls of Phoenician workmanship (one signed by the artist) like those found in Cyprus, will be found in the window case, together with the most interesting object of all — a ^al^ fibula or safety- pin bearing the inscription manios med fhefhaked NUMASioi, " Manius made me for Numasius." This shows us that native artists were beginning to vie with the crafts- men of the East ; it is, moreover, the earliest monument of the Latin tongue — with the possible exception of the inscription found beneath the Black Stone. Notice also the bronzes in the centre case— a tripod with three human figures on the edge, a stand in the form of a truncated cone with reliefs, and a cauldron with griffins' heads for handles — and objects of ivory and glass. We shall meet with a similar treasure from Caere in S. Etruria in the Vatican (p. 344) ; and the great expansion of Italian commerce and industry in the seventh century (to which these tombs belong) was un- doubtedly due to Etruscan enterprise. Turning to the R. we find in Room 41 a miscellaneous collection of Iron Age products, and in the centre models of megalithic monuments from S. Italy which resemble the dolmens, menhirs, etc., of northern Europe, and seem to have been the work of a people who crossed from Africa in the neolithic age ; also a model of a nuraghe or conical tower (used as a fortified dwelling) of the type common in Sardini . IX.] THE CAMPUS MARTIUS 179 The following rooms contain prehistoric objects from other parts of Europe and from the New World. From the corridor (45) we pass into the Museo Kircheriano proper, founded by the learned Jesuit, Athanasius Kircher, who was professor of mathematics at the Collegio Romano in the seventeenth century. For the Christian monuments m Rooms 51 and 52 see Christia?! Rome^ p. 70 fif. Room 52 contains a number of the terra-cotta slabs with reliefs made from moulds of which we have already seen examples in the Palazzo dei Conservatory The designs are of great variety. Some are taken from well-known motives of classical Greek art, such as the Victories sacrificing bulls, which are the commonest of all. Others may have been inspired by classical painting, such as the mourning Penel- ope or the washing of Odysseus' feet. The Egyptian landscape with the overflowing Nile, in which the hippo- potamus and crocodile are wallowing, points to Alexandria as the home of this manufacture. On the other hand, the plaque in which a combat between lions and gladiators in the circus is represented gives proof that Roman craftsmen contributed their share. Notice a curious oval gravestone of early date from Novilara near Pesaro, with an inscription in the local dialect. In Room 53 is a large collection of ancient Italian and Roman coins. The earliest medium of exchange consisted in shapeless lumps of bronze {ess rude), which was weighed in the scales at each transaction ; this symbolical sale per aes et libram was retained as a formality in conveyances by later Roman law. The next stage we find stamped ingots on bars {ces signatum) ; the unit {as) was the pound of copper, and this was gradually reduced when true coinage was brought into circulation. In the window case are gems of no great importance. By the entrance-wall, leaden tablets inscribed with curses which were buried in graves ; also a collar with an inscription which reads : " I have run away, catch me ; when you have restored me to my master Zoninus you will get a solidus " ; and it is probably that of a dog rather than a slave. i8o THE CAMPUS MARTIUS [ix. In the passage are a few ancient sculptures : notice the head of a girl in green basalt, of the severe fifth-century type often called "Sappho." Turning to the L. into the corridor (54) we come to a miscellaneous collection of bronzes, etc., the most important of which is the round casket found at Praeneste and usually called the Ficoroni cista. On the handle-plate is an inscription of the third century B.C., which read as follows : " Novios Plautios made me at Rome, Dindia Magolnia gave me to her daughter.'' The casket is therefore the work of a Roman artist ; and so, no doubt, are the feet in the shape of lions trampling upon frogs, the relief-plates upon which Eros is represented between Heracles and lolaus by means of which the feet are attached to the body, and the handle in the form of a group of Dionysus with two Satyrs. But the engravings on the body of the chest seem to be by another hand, probably that of a Greek workman. The legend which they portray is taken from the story of the Argonauts, who, on their voyage to Colchis in, quest of the Golden Fleece, landed in Bithynia to draw water and were met by Amycus, king of the Bebryces, who had hitherto challenged all strangers to box with him and killed them, but now met his match in Poly deuces (Pollux), whose victory was foretold by the local demon Sosthenes. The central group is that of Polydeuces binding Amycus to a tree, at the foot of which is his boy-squire, wrapped in his master's cloak and carrying his shoes and scraper ; an oil-flask and a pick for loosening the earth before the fight lie beside him. To the R. is Athena, the protectress of the Argonauts, and above her head a flying Victory bearing a wreath. On either side of the group are two spectators : to R. Jason seated, and Heracles standing with his back to us ; to L. one of the Bebrycians seated on an amphora and the winged demon Sosthenes. Further to R. we see the good ship Argo and her crew, and beyond them the spring, beside which is seated an old Satyr drumming on his paunch whilst an Argonaut plays at punch-ball. The circle is completed by four figures — a youth holding an amphora, the reclining IX.] THE CAMPUS MARTIUS i8i figure of a local divinity (wearing, as we must note, the Italian bulla qx amulet round his neck), and two Argonauts, one whose cap marks him as Castor and another who places his arm about his neck. The whole is well worthy of study, because in all probability it preserves the outlines of of a composition belonging to the classical period of Greek painting. The subject reminds us of the fresco of the " Return of the Argonauts," painted by Micon, an Athenian painter of the time of Phidias, in the temple of the Dioscuri (Castor and Polydeuces) at Athens ; and we may perhaps catch some faint echoes of his style in this work, with its severe linear design and study of the nude in various poses — both features which mark fifth-century painting. Amongst the minor objects in this room note four silver goblets found at Vicarello, an ancient watering-place with natural hot springs. They are in the form of milestones, and give the names of the principal posting-stations, with distances, on the route from Gades (Cadiz) to Rome. Leaving the Museum, we find ourselves within a few paces of the Corso, which follows the line of the Via Lata or " Broad Street," continued by the Via Flaminia, the main route from Rome to the N. Close to the church of S. Maria in Via Lata (on our R.) a triumphal arch of Diocletian spanned the Via Lata ; it was destroyed at the close of the fifteenth century by Innocent VIII. Beneath this church and the neighbouring Palazzo Doria have been found remains of the piers which supported the ScEpta Julia^ or polling-booths planned by Caesar and completed by Agrippa in 26 B.C. Since the assembly of the people gradually ceased to perform any but formal functions, the building was turned to other uses and became a kind of bazaar. It extended from the modern Piazza di Venezia almost as far as the Piazza Sciarra. In this latter spot stood a second triumphal arch, built by Claudius to commemorate his conquest of Britain. Some remains of this arch and frag- ments of the inscription (the largest of which is in the garden of the Palazzo Barberini) were found in the sixteenth i82 THE CAMPUS MARTIUS [ix. and seventeenth centuries. The Aqua Virgo, an aqueduct built by Agrippa to feed his baths, was carried over the arch. (Another arch of this aqueduct, bearing an inscription of Claudius, is still to be seen in Via del Nazzareno, some distance to the N.) The next turning to the L. is the Via di Pietra, which takes us into the Piazza di Pietra, where we see on the L. the remains of an ancient building, viz. a row of eleven Corinthian columns bearing a rich entablature, built into what is now the Stock Exchange of modern Rome (it was until lately a Custom House). The columns stood on a high substructure ox podium which is now buried, and this was decorated with the reliefs of provinces and trophies which we saw in the courtyard of the Palazzo dei Con- servatori (p. 131). It has generally been held that this was the Basilica of Neptune, built by Agrippa in 25 B.C. in honour of the naval victories of Augustus, and (as is supposed) restored by Hadrian after it had been burned in the great fire of a.d. 80. It seems, however, more likely that it was the Temple of Hadrian built by Antoninus Pius and dedicated in A.D. 145. From the Piazza di Pietra the Via dei Bergamaschi takes us to the Piazza Colonna, in the centre of which rises the Column of Marcus Aurelius. The wars which it com- memorates were closed by the triumph celebrated by the Emperor in September, A.D. 176; but there is reason to think that many years elapsed before the column was com- pleted. Like the column of Trajan, of which it was an imitation, it was 100 feet in height, not including the pedestal, which was once adorned with reliefs, all trace of which was removed when the column was restored in 1589 by the order of Sixtus V. The statues of M. Aurelius and his Empress, Faustina the younger, which had long since disappeared, were then replaced by a figure of St. Paul. The reliefs of the spiral band which encircles the column in twenty-three windings are much inferior in execution to those of Trajan's column, and are also more difficult of interpretation. In the first place, they have suffered severely IX.] THE CAMPUS MARTIUS 183 from fire and earthquake, and have been replaced in many- parts by modern figures (generally easy to distinguish). Moreover, if we know but little of Trajan's campaigns in Dacia, we know far less of the wars waged by M. Aurelius on the Danube — at least as regards their strategy : some incidents are recorded by ancient writers, and the most famous (to be mentioned presently) is represented on the column. In A.D. 166 the barbarians living to the N. of the Upper Danube crossed the river, and made an inroad into Roman territory, crossing the eastern Alps and penetrating as far as the Adriatic. Both M. Aurelius and his colleague Verus took the field, and the invasion was checked ; but after the death of Verus, Marcus was obliged to take command on the Danube, making his base at Carnuntum (not very far from Vienna), and to carry the war into the enemy's couptry in the valleys of the March and the Gran. This " Germanic war " lasted for three years (a.d. 17 1-3)) and was followed by a " Sarmatic war," waged against the tribes who occupied the district between the Danube and the Theiss (now Hungary). Here he was again victorious (a.d. 174-5). These are the wars of which the story is told on this column. Just as on Trajan's column, a figure of Victory * separated the narrative of the First Dacian War from that of the Second, so here the " Germanic " and " Sarmatic " campaigns are divided in the same way. But we cannot extract a coherent narrative of either series of operations from the reliefs, which seem rather to present typical episodes of the struggle. We can also trace direct imita- tion of the reliefs of Trajan's column, especially in the opening scene, which shows the bridge of boats at Car- nuntum. The most interesting scene (in the third winding) is the Miracle of the Rain, which is associated in Christian tradition with the story of the Thundering Legion, whose prayers unlocked the windows of heaven. On the pagan monument we see a colossal winged figure of Jupiter Pluvius dripping torrential rains from his arms and hair, which bring jrefreshment to the thirsty Romans, but sweep i84 THE CAMPUS MARTIUS [ix. their enemies away in destruction. Nor was this the only legend depicted on the column. On a lower winding we see the collapse of a huge wooden scaffolding, by means of which the Germans have attempted to scale the walls of a Roman fort. It has been set ablaze by a thunderbolt, and we are reminded of the story told by the biographer of Marcus Aurelius that " by his prayers he wrung from heaven a bolt launched against the enemy's engine." The principles of relief are not so well understood as they were by the sculptors of Trajan's column, and the figures often seem like marionettes. Notice also the bird's-eye perspec- tive in which rivers are shown. In the neighbourhood of the colunm — we do not exactly know where — stood the Temple of Marcus Aurelius. Not far off, on the edge of the mound of ruins called Monte Citorio, upon which the Chamber of Deputies stands, stood a second column, set up in honour of Antoninus Pius. This was a monolith of red granite : its sculptured base was removed to the Vatican in 1703 and is the Giardino della Pigna (p. 331). Close to it was the Ustrinuin, or crematory, where the bodies of the Antonines were buried. A little beyond the Piazza Colonna the Via in Lucina, to the L. of the Corso, marks the spot where the Ara Pacts AugustcB was set up in 13-9 B.C. to commemorate Augustus' safe return from the West in the former year and the pacification of the Empire. Its remains will be described later (see p. 204). Some of the sculptures found in the excavations of 1903-4, which revealed the plan of the monument, still remain underground and beneath the water level, which has risen several feet since the beginning of the Christian era. Somewhat to the W. of the Ara Pacis Augustus laid a great pavement of white marble, which served as a sun- dial, with gilt lines or figures of the Zodiac. The needle was formed by an obelisk brought from Heliopolis, which is that now set up in the Piazza di Monte Citorio. On the E. side of the Via Lata, opposite to the Ara P