Part 6

In front are the ruins of the steps and portico, with the cella behind. There seems to have been at the back of the cella an entrance into the basilica, both being closed with independent doors. The marble threshold of the temple is _in situ_, and upon it is cut a _caduceus_, the emblem of Concord, which was once filled in with bronze; parallel to this, but distinct, is the marble threshold of the basilica, with the holes where the pivots of the doors turned. Under the podium of the basilica is a long narrow vault of _opus incertum_, but it does _not_ lead into the Tabularium, that being built long afterwards, A.U.C. 675, as the old inscription records, B.C. 78. It was probably the place where the utensils for the temple were deposited. Some of the marble decorations of the basilica still remain; and this was no doubt the hall used when the Senate are spoken of as having sat in the Temple of Concord. "The Senate assembled in the building near the Temple of Concord" (Dion Cassius, lviii. 2). "In this temple, in which, whilst I was advising the Senate, you placed around it armed men" (Cicero, "2 Phil." vii. and viii.). "Here, in this Cella of Concord, on the slope of the Capitol."

It may be that this is the basilica spoken of in later times as the Basilica Argentaria, probably taking that name from being frequented by the silversmiths. It was restored, after a fire, by Septimius Severus, and the inscription quoted is probably of his date. In A.D. 731-741, Pope Gregory III. turned the remains into a Christian church, which exists no longer. In 1817, three inscriptions were found here, referring to the temple and basilica. Cicero ("Per Sest." lxvii.) tell us "that the monuments of L. Opimius in the Forum were very much frequented."

A Temple of Concord seems to have been decorated with many statues, but there is nothing to show whether it was that of Camillus on the Capitol, or Opimius's.

"Piston also made the statues of Mars and Mercury, which are in the Temple of Concord at Rome." "Sthenius made the statues of Ceres, Jupiter, and Minerva, which are now in the Temple of Concord." "Augustus consecrated in the Temple of Concord, as something marvellous, four figures of elephants made of obsidian stone." "Also, a picture of Marsyas bound by Leuxis" (Pliny, xxxiv. 19, xxxv. 36, xxxvi. 67).

"Vitellius left the palace to lay down the ensigns of sovereignty in the Temple of Concord" (Tacitus, "H." iii. 68).

_To the left is_

THE TEMPLE OF VESPASIAN.

Vespasian having rendered such services by restoring the Capitol, and collecting the records in the Tabularium, no more suitable site could be found for the erection of a temple to the deified emperor than in front of an old entrance to this latter building. The three pillars, which are all that remain of the building, stand upon a lofty terrace; and the skill of the architect in concealing the limited depth of the space allotted to the temple is shown in his having placed the columns of the flank nearer to each other than those of the front.

The beauty of this ruin excites universal admiration. It approaches that of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Forum. The inscription on the architrave, copied, whilst still entire, by a monk of the monastery of Einsiedeln, in the eighth century, refers to the restoration of the building by Septimius Severus and Caracalla, who appear to have also restored other sanctuaries in the same neighbourhood.

DIVO. VESPASIANO. S. P. Q. R. IMP. CAES. SEVERUS. ET. ANTONINUS. PII. FELIC. AUG. RESTITUERUNT.

_Looking across the front of this temple is_

THE TEMPLE OF SATURN.

"The temple was consecrated to Saturn, upon the ascent leading from the Forum to the Capitol. Before this, the altar erected by the followers of Hercules stood there" (Dionysius, vi. 1. See _ibid._, i. 34).

Only eight Ionic columns, with their capitals and architraves, remain. It was on the steps of this temple that the generals took the oath that they had given a correct account of their spoil and prisoners. It contained the public treasury, and, according to Solinus, was called the Treasury of Saturn. Livy (ii. 21) says, "In the consulate of Aulus Sempronius and Marcus Minucius, A.U.C. 257, the Temple of Saturn was dedicated." Plutarch says, "Publicola appointed the Temple of Saturn to be the treasury, which they still make use of for that purpose, and empowered the people to choose two young men as quæstors or treasurers." The inscription is still _in situ_.

SENATUS . POPULUSQUE . ROMANUS . INCENDIO . CONSUMPTUM . RESTITUIT.

[Illustration: TEMPLE OF VESPASIAN, TABULARIUM, AND PORTICO OF THE TWELVE GODS.]

THE MILLIARIUM AUREUM,

or Golden Milestone, set up by Augustus (Dion Cassius, liv. 5), the site of which is at the angle of the temple on the side of the old Clivus Capitolinus, the ancient road leading up from the Forum. It was a gilded stone, on which the distance of all the principal towns was recorded, the distance being always measured from the city gates. Suetonius ("Otho," vi.) tells that "Otho gave his accomplices notice to wait for him in the Forum near the Temple of Saturn, at the Golden Milestone." Tacitus ("H." i. 27) relates the same; and Plutarch (in "Galba") agrees with them both, adding, "There terminate all the great roads in Italy."

_Behind the Temple of Saturn, in the corner, is_

THE PORTICO OF THE TWELVE GODS,

the Schola Xantha, and the portico of the Dii Consentes, restored by Visconti in 1858, marked by eight Corinthian columns, partly modern, but with antique capitals and architraves; and the cellæ arranged in compact masonry behind them. It was called the Schola Xantha, from Fabius Xanthus, a curator of the monuments, who placed here the images of the household gods of Rome--Dii Consentes, because admitted to the council of Jove--Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Mercurius, Jovi', Neptunus, Vulcanus, Apollo (Ennius). The inscription tells us they were reinstated under Vettius Pretextatus, A.D. 367.

_Facing towards the Forum, at the back of the line of buildings at its top, is_

THE TABULARIUM.

(See page 170.)

_In front of the Senate House, S. Adriano, is_

THE COLUMN OF PHOCAS,

which formerly supported the statue of that emperor. It faced the Senate House; and is placed upon a pedestal rising from a pyramidal basement of steps, the whole evidently the plunder of other edifices.

It was erected by Smaragdus, the Exarch of Italy, in A.D. 608, and was excavated by the Countess of Devonshire in 1816.

It is thus mentioned by Byron,--

"Tully was not so eloquent as thou, Thou nameless column with the buried base!" _Childe Harold_, iv. 90.

_Between the Temples of Saturn and Castor are the remains of_

THE BASILICA JULIA,

on the site of the Basilica Sempronia, erected by Sempronius Gracchus, B.C. 169 (Livy, xliv. 16). This was burned down, and rebuilt by Julius Cæsar, and called Julia, after his daughter. It was destroyed by fire, and rebuilt by Augustus (Dion Cassius, "Augustus"). It was again destroyed by fire, and rebuilt A.D. 283. Suetonius tells us that Caligula, "during three days successively, scattered money to a prodigious amount among the people, from the top of the Julian Basilica" ("Caligula," xxxvii.). It is shown on two pieces of the marble plan.

In the "Mon. Ancyr.," Augustus says, "He rebuilt the Basilica Julia between the Temples of Castor and Saturn." Thus we see that the Will of Augustus, the marble plan, and the ruins, all three exactly agree. The portico was dedicated to his grandsons, Lucius and Caius (Suetonius, "Augustus," xxix.). It was the great court of appeal. (See Pliny, Jr., "Letters," v. 21, vi. 33.)

The old pavement has been well exposed, and put in proper condition for preservation; the remnants of frieze, and cornices, and columns found in the diggings have been set up on brick pedestals,--an innovation of Signor Rossa's. The old bits of pavement have been very smoothly linked together by the laying of Venetian mosaic cement, and the contrast between the modern and the antique is very apparent.

The principal streets that ran into the Forum were:--

THE VIA SACRA.

It commenced on the Palatine Hill at the Ædem Larium. Passing by the Arch of Titus, it turned to the left: thus far it was called the Clivus Palatinus and Summa Sacra Via; the slope down to the Forum was called the Clivus Sacer. It entered the Forum at the Temple of Antoninus, past which it turned again to the left, passing in front of the Temple of Cæsar; then turning to the right, passed through the centre of the Forum to the foot of the Capitol. The ascent here was called the Clivus Capitolinus. It was paved B.C. 174 (Livy, xli. 27).

Its windings are easily accounted for when we remember that it had to come from the top of the Palatine to the top of the Capitoline, passing through a narrow valley. It was called the Sacred Way from the sacred processions that passed along it, and from the sacred buildings that lined it.

_Between the Basilica Julia and the Temple of Castor_

THE VICUS TUSCUS

ran to the forum of the cattle-dealers and Circus Maximus. "They had ground allotted to them for building houses, which was afterwards called the Vicus Tuscus" (Livy, ii. 14). "Verres had caused it to be paved so badly, that he made a point of never going along the street that he had taken the contract for paving" (Cicero, "Ver." i. 59). It was the route for the festal processions to the Circus and Aventine. Where it entered the Forum was a statue of the Tuscan god Vertumnus, the base of which statue was found near where the street first touched the Basilica Julia. This street was sometimes called the Vicus Thurarius, from the perfumers' shops.

THE VICUS JUGARIUS

went out of the Via Sacra between the Temple of Saturn and the Basilica Julia, running under the Capitol to the Porta Carmentalis, the gate in the wall from the Capitol to the river that led into the forum of the vegetable-dealers. Where it left the Via Sacra it was spanned by the Arch of Tiberius, erected A.D. 16 in commemoration of the lost eagles of Varus being recovered by Germanicus (Tacitus, "Annals," ii. 41). In this street was the Lacus Servilius.

Under our (right) side of the Temple of Castor are some remains of

THE STREET OF THE OX-HEADS.

From the Porta Romana on the Palatine, a short street went to the right out of the Via Nova into the Forum, ending between the Temples of Castor and Vesta. "It chanced that I was returning from the festival of Vesta by that way by which the Nova Via is _now_ joined to the Roman Forum" (Ovid, "Fasti," vi. 389.) We wish Mr. Naso had been a little more explicit, and had given us the name of this short street; but we will endeavour to demonstrate what the name of this street was. We know from Suetonius that under the Palatine was the temple to the deified Augustus, and over it Caligula built his bridge, connecting the Palatine with the Capitol. Now, at the corner of the Palatine we have the ascent to this bridge remaining, so that it will not be difficult to find the probable site of the Temple of Augustus. Horace (O. iii. 3) implies that it was between the Temples of Castor and Hercules. Servius says it was near the Tuscan colony. Suetonius tells us it was on the site of the house in which he was born, and gives us the name of the street: "In the quarter of the Palatine Hill, and the street called the Ox-heads, where _now_ stands a temple dedicated to him, and built a little after his death" ("Aug." v.). We conclude from the above that the probable name of this short street was AD CAPITA BUBULA, and in confirmation of this, ox-heads may still be seen sculptured on the fragments found at the end of this street, between the Temples of Castor and Vesta.

MINOR STREETS.

We must call attention to a cross street that ran from the Clivus Capitolinus to the Prison and the Clivus Argentarius, the name of which we cannot determine, unless it was reckoned part of the Argentarius. When the triumphal processions arrived at this point, the general and prisoners separated. He went up the Capitol to sacrifice, they to the Prison to death.

The road passing under the Arch of Severus is of very late date, and artificially formed. It ran from the cross street down the north side of the Forum for a short distance, when it turns to the left, apparently passing out of the Forum between the Curia and the Basilica Porcia. The roads, as a rule, did not pass under the triumphal arches, as they are represented on reliefs and coins, with the archways occupied with statues.

_The open paved space, which was very much larger in the time of the Republic, was called_

THE COMITIUM.

Varro says it was so called "from _coïre_, to meet,--the place of the ratification of the treaty between the Romans and Sabines." Livy tells us "it was an open space marked out in the Forum, where the assemblies called Comitia Curiata took place for the purpose of electing ministers of religious rites, making laws of a certain description, and deciding some suits, and inflicting punishment on criminals."

Domitian ordered the gallants of Cornelia, the president of the Vestal Virgins, to be whipped to death with rods in the Comitium.

A line of seven brick bases for honorary statues occupies one side; the edge of the paved area marks the top; the remains of a row of shops, destroyed by Signor Rossa in 1872, the bottom. The line of the modern road on the right was called

THE JANUS.

This was the Roman Exchange, where the money-changers transacted their business, and must not be confounded with the Temple of Janus already mentioned; nor must it be thought that there were a series of arches here, as some authors have supposed. Horace says (Sat. ii. 3), "Since all my fortunes were dissipated at the middle exchange" (Janus). Again (Ep. i. 1), "O citizens, money is to be sought first; virtue after riches. This is inculcated from the top to the bottom of 'change." He here distinguishes the _summus_, _medius_, and _imus_, or the top, middle, and bottom of the exchange.

SHRINE OF VENUS.

Having thus pointed out the principal buildings of the Forum, we will descend to its level, and identify some of its historical sites.

_At the left-hand corner_ of the Vicus Tuscus and the Via Sacra, a brick pedestal marks the site of the Shrine of Venus Cloacina, erected in commemoration of Tarquin making the Cloaca Maxima. _Cloacina_ comes from _cluere_ = _purgare_, to purge.

THE DEATH OF VIRGINIA.

[Illustration: DEATH OF VIRGINIA.]

_Opposite_ this shrine, facing up the Vicus Tuscus, is some brickwork--remains of a line of shops that faced towards the Temple of Cæsar, and which were destroyed by Signor Rossa in making the excavations. The end shop only was saved. This was the site of the butcher's stall from which Virginius snatched the knife that saved his daughter's honour.

"Virginius demanded to speak with Virginia; and permission being granted, he drew the maiden and her nurse aside to the shops near the shrine of Cloacina, now called the new shops, and there, snatching a knife from a butcher's stall, plunged it into his daughter's breast" (Livy, iii. 48).

THE FOUNTAIN OF JUTURNA.

_At the left-hand corner_, facing the Temple of Castor, the oval basin of this fountain has been cleared, and the spring which supplied it is covered with an iron grating, and has been turned into the Cloaca. It is no doubt the same at which the twin-gods, Castor and Pollux, washed their horses after fighting for Rome in the battle of Lake Regillus, when they announced to the people that the battle was won. Similar stories are told by Florus. When the Romans conquered Perses, king of Macedonia, the twin-gods washed themselves at the Lake of Juturna; and when they defeated the Tigurini, the gods were seen to deliver a letter to the prætor in front of their temple.

Juturna was the sister of Turnus, immortalized by Jupiter, and turned into a fountain, whose waters were used in Vesta's sacrifices, and had curative powers.

THE FORNIX FABIUS

stood between the Temples of Cæsar and Castor; some slight remains can still be seen. It was erected to Fabius Maximus, the conqueror of the Allobroges, now Savoy. It was erected B.C. 121, being the first triumphal arch in the Forum. The Romans originally called their triumphal arch _fornix_, not _arcus_.

The pseudo-Ascon says it stood before the Temple of Castor. The inscription was found in the sixteenth century, and is given by Gruter, ccccvi. 5--

Q . FABIO . ALLOBROGICINO MAXIMO.

Another fragment is given in the Vatican Codex, 3368, 4--

Q . FABIUS . Q . F . MAXIMUS . AED . CVR . REST.

Cicero is the first author who speaks of this arch, and he alludes to it several times. In "Verres" (i. 7) he says: "He (Caius Curio) sees Verres in the crowd by the Fornix Fabius. He speaks to the man, and with a loud voice congratulates him on his victory." Asconius, commenting on this passage, says: "Fornix Fabius arcus est juxta Regiam in Sacra Via a Fabio censore constructus, qui a devictis Allobrogibus Allobrox cognominatus est, ibique statua ejus posita propterea est."

In "Pro Plancio" (vii.) Cicero says: "When I am hustled in a crowd, and pushed against the Arch of Fabius, I do not complain to the man who is at the top of the Sacra Via, but to him who pushes me." Again ("De Orat." ii. 66) he says: "Crassus said in a speech to the people that Memnius, though himself so great a man, as he came into the Forum, stooped his head at the Arch of Fabius."

Seneca ("De Constantia Sapientis," i.) says: "Cato was dragged from the (old) Rostra to the Arch of Fabius"--that is, nearly the whole length of the Forum. Trebellius Pollio ("Saloninus Gallienus," i. 10) says: "There was at this time at the foot of the hill Romulus (Palatine) a statue, that is before the Sacred Way, between the Temples of Faustina and Vesta, near to the Arch of Fabius." This exactly describes the site.

We have two views of this arch preserved to us on ancient reliefs. The first, from the Arch of Marcus Aurelius, now on the stairway of the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Capitol, represents the arch on the left of the Temple-Tomb of the deified Cæsar. The second, a relief on the monument of Marcus Aurelius on the Comitium, nearest the Arch of Septimius Severus, depicts the Arch of Fabius to the right of the Temple of Castor and Pollux.

_Under the bank of earth to the right of Cæsar's Temple-Tomb stood_

THE ARCH OF AUGUSTUS.

Dion Cassius records (liv. 8) that Augustus built an arch in commemoration of the Parthian treaty near the Temple-Tomb of Cæsar. This is borne out by Maii, an interpreter of Virgil ("Æn." viii. 606), who says the Arch of Augustus was near to the temple of the deified Julius. The "Mirabilia" mentions it, and gives the same site: "Templum Minervæ cum arcu conjunctum est ei, nunc autem vocatur Sanctus Laurentius de Mirandi;" that is, the Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina, now the Church of San Lorenzo in Miranda. Accordingly, it was on the right of the Temple of Cæsar. Between it and the Temple of Antoninus the following inscription on marble was found in 1540-46:--

SENATVS . POPVLVSQVE . ROMANVS IMP . CAESARI . DIVI . IVLI . F . COS . QVINCT COS . DESIGN . SEX . IMP . SEPT REPVBLICA CONSERVATA. (Gruter, ccxxvi. 5.)

It is doubtful whether this refers to the Arch of Augustus or to the Temple of Cæsar, both having been built by Augustus. A coin of Augustus represents this arch, with the legend, CIVIB . ET . SIGN . MILIT . A . PART . RECVP. In the early part of 1884, on the Via Sacra, near the Temple of Antoninus, some thirty travertine _voussoirs_--which formed part of an arch, the diameter of which was 12 feet 17 inches--were brought to light. So far, the excavations do not show where this arch stood; but when the road between the Temples of Cæsar and Antoninus is cut away, we may hope to find the site.

THE ROSTRA JULIA.

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE ROSTRA, AND TEMPLE-TOMB OF CÆSAR.]

We know from Dion Cassius that Cæsar encouraged the popular business to be carried on at the lower end of the Forum, and that he turned the steps of the Temple of Castor into a temporary rostra. On this becoming popular he built a new rostra, which was called the plebeian rostra or Rostra Julia. We learn from Suetonius that it was before the Temple of Cæsar. Cicero, speaking from it against Mark Antony, bids his audience look to the (_their_) left at the gilt equestrian statue of Antony which stood before the Temple of Castor.

[Illustration: HADRIAN ADDRESSING THE PEOPLE FROM THE ROSTRA JULIA.]

This is one of the most interesting spots in the Forum. Cæsar built the second rostra with its rear towards the Forum, represented by the darker lines in the above plan. In front, towards the curved edge, Antony spoke, Cæsar's body being on the level below. The body was burnt and buried "in the Forum in that place visible from the old monumental Regia of the Romans. On the spot was placed an altar _where now_ is the Temple of Cæsar" (Appian, ii. 42). "The same men were erecting a tomb in the Forum who had performed that irregular funeral" (Cicero, "First Phil." ii.).

It was decorated with the rams of the captured ships of Antony and Cleopatra. It was the custom to speak from the circular edge; but when the Temple of Cæsar was built, it was erected close up to his rostra, on the site where the people had previously stood, and so they had to turn about and address the people from the flat edge. "As he was seated on the rostra at the festival of Pan, Mark Antony placed upon his brow a royal diadem" (Velleius Paterculus, ii. 56).

MARK ANTONY'S SPEECH.

When Cæsar was killed, it was not in the Capitol, as Shakespeare makes it, nor in the Senate House upon the Forum, but in Pompey's Senate House (see page 195). From there the body was carried to his house, and next day into the Forum, on its way to the Campus Martius, and was placed in front of the Rostra Julia for some friend to make the funeral oration over it. Mark Antony mounted the rostra, and there made his famous speech, "which moved the people to that degree that they immediately burned the body in that very place, and afterwards interred his ashes" (Dion Cassius, "Cæsar").

Livy ("Epit." xcvi.) says that "Cæsar's body was burned before the plebeian rostra." Dion Cassius says his temple-tomb was built on the very spot where his body was burned.

Unfortunately Antony's address has not come down to us, so we must accept Shakespeare's immortal version.

THE CURTIAN LAKE.