In returning towards the city there is to be seen, on the right, a small edifice of brick, whose elevation is turned towards the Almo. This object partakes of all that uncertainty which has clouded our footsteps since we left the Appian Way; but it is curious enough to be put in mind that such a whimsical god as Rediculus should ever have been invented. There is no reason why this building should be called the temple of the god Rediculus ; but there is some reason why it should not. We find that such a temple existed somewhere on this side of Rome, and was erected on the spot where Hannibal, dismayed at some ominous sight in approaching the city, returned (quia redierit) to his camp. * Pliny has described the "Campus Rediculi" (in which, no doubt, stood the temple,) as being two miles from the city on the Via Appia, but on the very contrary side of the road to this 109: and comparing the situation of the first milestone on the Via Appia 110 with the words of Pliny, we should rather be induced to seek for the plain and temple of Rediculus in the level ground opposite the church of “Domine quo vadis.” This elegant little fabric is much admired, and some would fain believe it to be of the age of the republic; but an acute observer is convinced that so much ornament, lavished on so mean a *See Note Z. 109 Alluding to a procession which went out of the gate, the author says, it continued as far as the pile "qui constructus dextra Via Appiæ ad secundum lapidem in campo Rediculi appellato fuit.” — Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. x. cap. 43. 110 See the former part of this Dissertation; and consult the plan of the Via Appia. design, betrays an age as late as Septimius Severus: its form is nearly square, and there is great variety in its construction. The small brick columns on the southern side are octagonal, but the contiguous and corresponding sides are supported by pilasters. The columns and pilasters are made of a differentcoloured brick, to contrast more strikingly with the wall itself. Most of the ornaments still remain sufficiently well preserved to testify their original elegance the entrance has been towards the Via Latina, or the west, as appears from the vestiges of a doorway, and the position of the small windows on each side of it. The basement of the portico is partly remaining, which shows it was ascended to by steps, and has been a "prostyle." The interior exhibits one simple square room, with small windows disposed around it: underneath are some vaults, which now serve for stalls for cattle. There is a rage for calling all unknown ruins, especially when situated within the precincts of an ancient road, by the convenient name of tombs: but, in every respect, this appears to have been a temple. It is similarly situated, with regard to an ancient road, to those "ædicolæ" we have already seen near the Osteria dei Pupazzi, and to another existing at the Tor de' Schiavi. These small temples, or chapels, might serve as places of devotional exercise for those passing and repassing to the city. 111 For this object, as well as the temple of Bacchus, Piranesi's engravings may be consulted, and the still more accurate details and plans of Uggeri (Gio. Pittores, vol. iii.); also Guattani (Roma descritta, vol. ii. p. 44.). In the course of this Dissertation, we have had some examples of the difficulties to be encountered in a rational study of Roman antiquities; and we have rather endeavoured to divest the subject of groundless theories than to establish others equally destitute of foundation. It may, therefore, have been frequently observed, that where the evidence carefully collected from its source has not been conclusive, or might have furnished a conclusion according to any one's fancy, we have abstained from pronouncing an opinion with that authority which, in the eyes of those capable of discerning our pretensions, would only have thrown ridicule on our labours, and perhaps have led those less qualified to investigate such evidence into error and delusion: but when the nature of the subject has been fairly stated, and classical recollections have been awakened, it would be difficult not to indulge occasionally in theory and imagination. Here, therefore, the thoughts may wander from the aërial beings of the poets to the heroes whom the historian and the sepulchral monument have saved from oblivion-from Egeria and the Muses who fled from hence to yon dark blue hills of Albano 112 on 112 Deflevêre Numam. Nam conjux, urbe relicta, Impedit. Ah! quoties Nymphæ nemorisque lacusque Non tamen Egeriæ luctus aliena levare Damna valent: montisque jacens radicibus imis Ovid. Metamorph. xv. 487. the wings of fancy, to the tombs of the Scipios and the Servilii; and in returning to the site of the ancient Porta Capena, we may speculate upon the generations yet to come through which shall endure the monuments of the Appian Way. 137 DISSERTATION THE FOURTH: COMPRISING REGIO XII. CALLED PISCINA PUBLICA, AND "Non his juventus orta parentibus Infecit æquor sanguine Punico." HOR. CARM. lib. iii. ode vi. It was the opinion of an eminent moral philosopher, that luxury, "as it supplies employment and promotes industry, assists population." Without stopping here to enquire under what circumstances such an end is desirable, it is to be feared that luxury, in most cases, gradually undermines the foundations of national greatness. If, indeed, it were possible to confine a disease within prescribed limits, the theory that wealth is most easily distributed by luxury might be established; but we have now before us the example of a mighty empire, which teaches mankind a different lesson. The ease and indulgence in which the senator lived soon prevailed in the camp and in the city, and promoted inglorious repose instead of industry1: and when a more hardy race of men attacked the enervated citizens of Italy, whose ancestors would have blushed to own themselves vanquished, 1 See on this subject the ample treatise of John Meurs de Luxu Romanorum. |