Part 9

The recent excavations along the line of the Via Sacra brought to light some unimportant remains of shops and houses facing towards the street. These buildings are of the time of Constantine, and agree in their construction with his Basilica on the opposite side of the street. This part of Rome was destroyed by fire in the reign of Commodus, and again under Maxentius (Dion Cassius, Herodian, Galen, Capitolinus). In this rebuilding they did not clear away the remains of the older houses, but built on and over them--a not unusual custom in Rome. Let us carefully examine the older remains. Our attention is first attracted by different fragments of beautiful mosaic pavements of the best period of the art, and evidently the flooring of no mean house. The first piece that we come across is composed of a pattern made up of several cubes in different colours; in the rebuilding this was hid by a pavement of herring-bone brickwork. Beyond is a beautiful black and white octangular and diamond mosaic pavement, which also did duty to the rebuilt house. In a small room adjoining we notice a travertine base of a column, which stands near a piece of black mosaic pavement, in which are inserted small squares of white marble; in another chamber close by is a white mosaic with a black border, and near this another, of white and black sexangular and diamond shape. Near the cube mosaic are two more bases of columns of travertine, and a travertine well head: travertine stone, from Tivoli, was not used in Rome as a building material till about 50 B.C. Amongst the constructions of the older period we notice six distinct pieces of walls composed of tufa blocks, perhaps old material re-used, some blocks of peperino, and a small piece of _opus reticulatum_. Tufa was used during the kingly period, peperino during the republic, and _opus reticulatum_--net-work wedges of tufa--by the late republic and early empire. Amidst the later construction, which is of brickwork, we notice terra-cotta hot-air pipes, and one piece of a lead pipe, and remains of flights of stairs leading to upper floors. The brick stamps found were of the second, third, and fourth centuries. Amongst these remains was found a small altar. On the scroll at the top is a Roman eagle, and beneath,--

LARIBUS AUG. SACRUM.

From the line of the bases of the columns we see that the front of the older house sloped back diagonally from the Via Sacra, the point farthest from the Forum being nearest to the Via Sacra; whilst the more recent construction was on a line parallel with, and abutting on to, the Sacred Way.

[Illustration]

This early house, appearing beneath the building of later date, is in all probability the house in which Julius Cæsar lived. The construction agrees with that of earlier and contemporary date. It is the first house on the Via Sacra, and the site coincides with the notices which we have of Cæsar's house:--

"He first inhabited a small house in the Suburra; but after his advancement to the pontificate, he occupied a palace belonging to the state in the Via Sacra. Many writers say that he liked his residence to be elegant ... and that he carried about in his expeditions tesselated and marble slabs for the floor of his tent" (Suetonius, "Cæsar," xlvi.).

"As a mark of distinction he was allowed to have a pediment on his house" (Florus, iv. 3).

"Julius Cæsar once shaded the whole Forum and Via Sacra from his house, as far as the Clivus Capitolinus" (Pliny, xix. 6).

"The night before his murder, as he was in bed with his wife, the doors and windows of the room flew open at once.... Calpurnia dreamed that the pediment was fallen, which, as Livy tells us (in the lost books), the senate had ordered to be erected upon Cæsar's house by way of ornament and distinction; and that it was the fall of it which she lamented and wept for" (Plutarch, in "Cæsar").

"He lay for some little time after he expired, until three of his slaves laid the body on a litter and carried it home, with one arm hanging down over the side" (Suetonius, "Cæsar," lxxxii.).

The house of Cæsar was under the Palatine, on which, above Cæsar's, stood the house of Cicero. "He (Vettius) did not name me, but mentioned that a certain speaker, of consular rank (Cicero), and neighbour to the consul (Cæsar), had suggested to him that some Ahala Servilius, or Brutus, must be found" (Cicero, "Ad Att." ii. 24).

In Cæsar's fourth consulship, the year before he was killed, for some reason or other the defence of King Deiotarus by Cicero was heard by Cæsar in his own house. Cicero says to Cæsar: "I am affected also by the unusual circumstance of the trial in this place, because I am pleading so important a cause--one the fellow of which has never been brought under discussion--within the walls of a private house. I am pleading it out of the hearing of any court or body of auditors, which are a great support and encouragement to an orator. I rest on nothing but your eyes, your person, your countenance. I behold you alone; the whole of my speech is necessarily confined to you alone.... But since the walls of a house narrow all these topics, and since the pleading of the cause is greatly crippled by the place, it behoves you, O Cæsar," &c. ("Pro Deiot." ii.).

It was in the year of his prætorship (62 B.C.) that the scandal of Clodius being found in the house whilst they were about to celebrate the rites of the Bona Dea happened. "When the anniversary of the festival comes, the consul or prætor (for it is at the house of one of them that it is kept) goes out, and not a male is left in it" (Plutarch, "Cæsar"). The trial that such a scene gave rise to caused Cæsar's celebrated words on being asked why he had divorced his wife: "Because I would have the chastity of my wife clear even of suspicion" (Plutarch, "Cæsar").

Plutarch speaks of it as "a great house." Ovid says the house of Numa, the Regia, was "small," showing that the house of Cæsar and the Regia were two distinct edifices.

This old house of which we have been speaking fronted towards the Temple of Vesta, whilst the portico and shops, built at a late period over its ruins, ran parallel with the Via Sacra. The house side of the atrium is plainly marked by the fragments of columns, composed of travertine coated with stucco, and frescoed. There is the base of an isolated column near what must have been the middle of the house side; and to its right there is a half column of the same workmanship, and between these two bases runs a travertine gutter which drained the atrium. Amidst the shops built over the atrium are remains of beautiful black and white mosaic pavement, the fragments of the borders showing that they once belonged to the older edifice. On the right of the atrium, towards the Via Sacra, was an area-vestibulum, giving access to the house from the Via Sacra, and, like it, paved with polygonal blocks of silex.

There was another entrance to the house at the point where it nearly touched, at its north-eastern corner, the Via Sacra. The bases of two columns mark the ingress into a small vestibule which has a mosaic pavement, on the right of which was the entrance to the house, the threshold of travertine stone being _in situ_. There are the two holes at the ends where the doors turned on their pivots, and the bolt-hole in the middle.

THE PORTICUS MARGARITARIA.

After the fire, the site of Cæsar's house was occupied by shops and dwellings, along the front of which was an arcade. As these shops were mostly kept by pearl-dealers, the arcade was known as the Porticus Margaritaria. It is mentioned in the "Curiosum" and the "Notitia" of the fourth century as in the eighth region, Forum Romanum Magnum.

In the recent excavations along the line of the Via Sacra, the remains of an arcade 201 feet long by 24 feet wide, and consisting of two rows of piers, have been found running parallel with the street, and having shops on either side. This no doubt is the Porticum Margaritarium of the catalogues. Beneath the arcade and the shops are the remains of Cæsar's house. Judging from the monumental stones, the pearl trade was an extensive one in Rome; and from the same authority we learn that the shops were on the Sacra Via. This is mentioned on the tomb of Ateilius Evhodus at the sixth mile on the Via Appia.

THE SACRA CLIVUS.

Horace was wont to come down the Sacred Way ("S." i. 9), and talks of Britons descending it in chains ("Ep." vii.). Now we are free to ascend it. Where the Sacred Way ascends the Velia ridge it will be noticed that the road is extraordinarily wide (45 feet). This was no doubt made after the great fire under Commodus, for four feet below the pavement was found the original and narrower street, and beneath that the drain in the reticulated work of the republic.

The right-hand side of the ascent was bordered with honorary monuments and inscriptions to Trajan, Hadrian, Titus, Septimius Severus, Caracalla, and Constantine; but the most interesting, perhaps, was the monument with Greek inscription of Gordianus, erected to him by the citizens of Tarsus, St. Paul's city, and interesting as showing that the close friendship between Rome and Tarsus continued to this late period. Four columns of Porta Santa marble stood on a podium, 7 feet by 4 feet, and supported a canopy, under which was the emperor's statue. On the cornice was the inscription, ΤΑΡϹΕωΝ , filled in with bronze.

THE VICUS SANDALIARIUS.

This was the street mentioned by Dionysius as leading into the Carinæ.

In the "Curiosum" and "Notitia" is mentioned the Apollinem Sandaliarium. This was a statue of Apollo, which gave name to a street of the fourth region. Suetonius ("Aug." lvii.) says: "With which donations Augustus purchased some costly images of the gods, which he erected in several of the streets of the city, as that of Apollo Sandaliarius." It is mentioned by Aulus Gellius (xviii. 4): "In Sandaliario forte apud librarios fuimus." Also by Galen ("De Libris suis," iv. 361).

The marble plan of Rome shows this street by the letters DLARIVS.

This was the street, recently excavated, between the Temple of the Penates and the Basilica Constantine, and which led into the Suburra.

At the entrance from the Via Sacra there still exists a brick pedestal on which the statue may have stood. For engraving of this, see Gruter, cvi. 7, and Dcxxi. 3.

In this street the remains of the Temple of Venus and Rome can be distinctly seen. A short distance up it is tunnelled over to allow the Basilica of Constantine to square; but the tunnel is closed about half way through. From the level of the street the western tribunal of the Basilica has been built up. The tunnel, called Arco d'Ladroni, and the street itself, have been used as a burial-place by the monks of the church; and there is a ninth century fresco of the dead body of the Saviour over a shrine on the left.

_Beyond is the_

BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE,

the colossal arches of which have served as models to architects for building all the larger churches in Rome. This splendid ruin usually bears the name of the Temple of Peace, erected by Vespasian in this neighbourhood and partly on this site, and which was destroyed by fire as early as the time of Commodus, A.D. 191. Herodianus, who saw the fire, says: "By the slight earthquake and the thunderbolt which followed it, the whole of the sacred enclosure was consumed." Claudius Galenus, the celebrated physician, says that the whole edifice was consumed, as also most of his writings, which were in his shop in the Via Sacra.

This is one of the most imposing ruins in Rome; the three noble arches which formed the northern side being almost perfect, rising to the height of 95 feet, and having a span of 80 feet. The southern side was similar; whilst a noble vaulted roof, supported from the side piers and arches, covered the centre. Thus, entering from the Vicus Eros, on the east, the spectator saw a magnificent hall 333 feet long by 84 feet wide, with aisles 60 feet in width. To the central hall the tribunal at the west end was added in the rebuilding of Constantine, when he made the main entry from the Sacra Via, the ruins of which exist in the porphyry columns. By this entry the nave is 227 feet long, the tribunal being 24 feet deep, and the aisles 80 feet wide.

Nibby has the merit of having been the first to prove that these ruins are the last remains of the Basilica erected by Maxentius, and completed and partially rebuilt by Constantine the Great. In 1828 a medal of Maxentius was found amongst the ruins of a piece of the vault which fell down. The principal entrance was originally intended to have been on the side facing the Colosseum, towards a street that ran out from the left of the Via Sacra, which, turning to the right, reached the Colosseum.

At a later period it may have been found more suitable to add a splendid portal on the side facing the Via Sacra; opposite to which, in the central side arch, a tribune was erected. So whichever way you enter it, it is a nave with two aisles. Of the vast vaulted arches spanning the middle space, only the supports from which the arches sprang still exist. These, however, suffice to indicate what they must have been. The Basilica contained many works of art, and the roof was supported by eight columns. The Via Sacra here passed along the front of the present Church of S. Francis of the Romans, and the Arch of Titus, to the Palatine.

_By applying at No. 61 Via del Colosseo, at the back of the Basilica, permission will be given to ascend to the top, from which a magnificent view is obtained._

_On our right is the_

CHURCH OF S. FRANCISCA ROMANA.

Built in the ninth century, and called S. Maria Nuova. The mosaic on the apse dates from 862. There is a monument to Gregory XI., and a relief representing the return of the Papal court to Rome from Avignon. In the transept are the two stones marked with depressions, said to have been where Peter knelt when he prayed that Simon Magus might fall. (See picture in S. Peter's, page 115.) The church contains a beautiful marble _ciborium_, and monuments to Cardinal Vulcani, 1322, and General Rido, 1475.

_In the Via S. Teodoro is the entrance to_

THE PALATINE HILL AND THE PALACE OF THE CÆSARS.

_Open every day. Admission, one lira. Sunday, free. In order to fully understand these ruins, it is advisable to attend the lectures given on the spot by the author of these Rambles, Mr. S. Russell Forbes, who conducts visitors over, describing fully the remains of the Arcadian, Kingly, Republican, and Imperial Periods. Particulars to be had at 93 Via Babuino._

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE PALATINE HILL AND PALACE OF THE CÆSARS]

Itinerary for Visiting the Palatine.

_Turn to the left when through Entrance Gate._

_Follow the Nos._ _Subject._ _Page._

1. ENTRANCE.

2. Palace of Caligula. 79

3. Palace of Tiberius. 79

4. Temple of Cybele. 76

5. Altar of Apollo. 75

6. Temple of Roma Quadrata. 75

7. Arches of Romulus. 72

8. Porta Carmenta. 73

9. Temple of Victory. 77

9 A. Shrine of Maiden Victory. 77

10. House of Germanicus. 78

11. Crypto-Portico. 78

12. Site of the Murder of Caligula. 78

13. Temple of Jupiter Stator. 76

14. Porta Mugonia. 73

15. Lararium. 71

16. Basilica. 82

17. Palace of Domitian. 81

18. House of Augustus. 78

19. Curiæ Veteres. 76

20. Auditorium. 81

21. Temple of Jupiter Victor. 77

22. _Path_, down.

23. _Path_, left.

24. Buildings of Domitian. 80

25. Palace of Commodus. 84

26. Stadium. 83

27. Odeum. 83

28. _Path_, up, turn right.

29. Palace of Septimius Severus. 84

30. Nymphæum of Marcus Aurelius. 83

31. _Path_, down through garden.

32. Gelotiana. 79

33. Piece of the Second Wall of Rome. xviii.

34. _Path_, round base of hill.

35. Altar to Aius Loquens. 77

36. Walls of Romulus. 72

37. Reservoir.

38, 39. Walls of Romulus. 71

40. Porta Romana. 73

41. Walls of Romulus, cliff. 71

The foundations of most magnificent buildings of the imperial times lie buried in the gardens. The paintings on the walls are in themselves sufficient to give us an idea of the splendour of the internal decorations of the Roman palaces. The streets, temples, palaces, &c., are full of interest. Some beautiful views may be had from various parts of the gardens, from the height near the entrance, as well as looking over the site of the CIRCUS MAXIMUS, which occupied the valley between the Palatine and Aventine Hills.

_In our description of the Palatine we have classed the remains in chronological order. In the accompanying plan they are numbered in the order in which they are best visited. The numbers correspond with those placed by the title of the different ruins in the Guide; so that the visitor can follow the numbers consecutively in his ramble, and turn to the corresponding number for the description. We only treat of the actual remains._

THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE PALATINE.

In studying the Palatine Hill, the topography presents the first difficulty. It must be borne in mind that the form of the hill has undergone many important changes since the days of Romulus, and, as seen by us, is very different from what it was when Romulus built his city. Now it presents a lozenge-shaped form; then it was oblong and smaller. Our theory is, that if a line be drawn from about the Arch of Titus across the hill, that part to the right or west was the extent of the hill in the time of Romulus; and that to the left or east, formerly "the pastures round the old town" (Varro), now presenting the form of a hill, was no hill then. From a careful survey of the part to the left of our line, we find it to be artificially formed of imperial ruins upon the top of ruins, rubbish, and accumulation of soil, and not of rock or solid earth. This new light does away with innumerable difficulties in studying the form of Roma Quadrata, and presents to us instead a very simple story.

If the hill had been of the same form then as now, Romulus would have occupied the whole of it: this he certainly did not do, as his walls are to the right of our line; and it is not likely that he would have left part of the hill outside his boundary to command his city or to be occupied by foes.

Our view agrees with classic authority. Tacitus (xii. 24) describing the pomœrium or boundary of Roma Quadrata, which went round the base of the hill on the level below, thus showing its shape, says: "The first outline began at the Ox-Market, where still is to be seen the brazen statue of a bull, that animal being commonly employed at the plough. From that place a furrow was carried on of sufficient dimensions to include the great Altar of Hercules. By boundary stones, fixed at proper distances, the circuit was continued along the foot of Mount Palatine to the Altar of Consus, extending thence to the Old Curiæ; next, to the Chapel of the Lares." These buildings were built after Roma Quadrata, with the exception of the Altar of Hercules, and are mentioned by Tacitus to mark the line; they existed when he wrote. Ovid ("Fasti," iv. 825) says: "Pressing the tail of the plough, he traces out the walls with a furrow; a white cow with a snow-white bull bears the yoke." Dionysius (i. 88) says: "Romulus called the people to a place appointed, and described a quadrangular figure about the hill, tracing with a plough, drawn by a bull and a cow yoked together, one _continued_ furrow." Taking these authors for our guides, we can easily trace the line of the pomœrium. Commencing at the Forum Boarium, which site is well known, it went down to the Altar of Hercules, which must have also been in the Forum Boarium, "in the spot where a part of the city has its name derived from an ox" (Ovid, "Fasti," i. 581). Taking in this altar, it passed under the Palatine's southern side to the Ara Consi, which Tertullian ("De Spec." v.) tells us was buried in the circus at the first meta. It here turned to the east, passing along the valley which then existed, along our imaginary line; for it is ridiculous to suppose that it would have passed right across the Palatine had the hill been then what it is now. From the Altar of Consus it extended past the Old Curiæ, which we think may be seen in the tufa walls under the south end of the Palace of Domitian (19), then to the Chapel of the Lares, which stands at the head of the Sacra Via below the Palace of Domitian (17).

"Ædem Larum in Summa Sacra Via" ("Mon. Ancyr."). "Ancus Martius (habitavit) in Summa Sacra Via, ubi ædes Larum est" (Solinus, i. 24). "Romulus built a temple to Jupiter, near the gate called Mugonia, which leads to the Palatine Hill from the Sacra Via" (Dionysius, ii. 30). The Sacred Way did not pass through the Arch of Titus, as is generally supposed, but passing by it led up to the Palatine--this can be seen by examining the stones--and was then called Clivus Palatinus. A large piece of the pavement still exists on the Palatine, leading up to the Ædem Larum, and which road is miscalled Nova Via. The road leading from the Arch of Titus to that of Constantine was called the Clivus Triumphalis.

Hence the furrow must have passed under the north side of the Palatine, and down the west side to where it began; for Tacitus's account says, "Hence to the Forum which was added by Tatius." This furrow marked the bounds of the city, within which were the walls, the city itself occupying the hill above.

The remains of the walls of Roma Quadrata existing are sufficient to show us their exact line, for we have remains on four different sides, and, curious enough, at three of the angles. On the west and east sides it appears to have been built up to support the scarped cliff and above it; but on the south it ran along the edge on the top of the cliff--the valley below, beyond the pomœrium, being then the Murzian Lake. Along the southern cliff it was not a solid wall, but had embrasures, through which a _balista_ or _catapult_ might be fired upon an enemy below--the remains of which are still existing. These are the oldest Roman arches, being older than the Cloaca of Tarquin or the arches of Ancus Martius.

"But Romulus had formed the _idea_ of a city rather than a _real_ city; for inhabitants were wanting" (Florus, i. 1).