details have been carefully delineated and illustrated by Santo Bartoli and his ally.132 The entablature is surmounted by an attic, forming a square recess, where the mutilated figure of Pallas herself stands. As no further vestiges can be traced behind this wall, it must be considered as the boundary of the Forum on that side; and the columns, pilasters, and sculpture, the internal decorations. There were considerable remains adjoining this ruin before Pope Paul V. demolished them to employ the materials in his fountain on the Janiculum. In the annexed sketch, taken from Camucci's Antiquities 133, we see there were seven columns connected with the Colonnacce by an arch of solid stone: the entablature rested entire upon three of the said columns, with a portion of the pediment; and on the frieze was read the following inscription : IMP. NERVA. CAES TRIB. POTEST. IM This could be no other than the temple of Minerva. From all which it is sufficiently evident that the Colonnacce belonged to the Forum Transitorium, built by Domitian and dedicated by Nerva. In examining those stupendous walls about the Arco de' Pantani, our remarks will comprise little more than the mere description, referring to the ensuing Dissertation for the arguments and proofs that this was the Forum of Augustus. Among 132 Vide Admiranda Roman. Antiquitat. &c. à Petro Sanct. Bartoli delineata incisa, notis Pet. Bellori illustrat. edit. Rom. in folio, anno 1693. the houses situated between the Colonnacce and the Arco just mentioned may be traced an Hemycyclium relieved by niches; and where it seems to have joined the outline of the Forum Transitorium a difference of construction is to be distinguished: but, without descending into the habitations, the beginning of the curvilinear wall is discerned from the Via Bonella, where it joins the roof of a granary. The magnificent cornice on the connecting straight wall cannot fail to arrest the eye of the spectator. A corresponding Hemicyclium, with niches similar to the former, exists within the precincts of the Dominican nunnery; and this is the only piece of uniformity to be remarked in the whole enclosure. Within those niches probably stood the statues to which Lampridius alludes in speaking of the Forum of Augustus, and which Alexander Severus imitated in adorning the Forum of Nerva. Their regularity of the outline which connects the two uniform recesses can only be accounted for by supposing a want of space for expansion, arising either from the nature of the ground itself, or because there had been some obstruction from the neighbouring edifices. In order to trace satisfactorily the plan of the whole, it would be necessary to examine minutely the remains which are concealed within the modern habitations and the inaccessible nunnery; and even then it would be difficult to evolve them without the skill of the architect. By a reference, however, to the annexed sketch and explanations, the most ordinary observer will be able to adjust the conspicuous walls with the general outline. Beginning at the Piazza del Grillo, we may follow these walls with wonder and admiration for a distance of 500 or 600 feet in continuation. They are remarkable for their height, the excellence of the masonry, and the elegant proportion of the cornices, especially as seen from within the Via Bonella. Between the Piazza just mentioned and the Arco de' Pantani there occur four arches, now indeed walled up and half sunk in the earth; but originally designed, we suppose, for entrances, having the appearance of a double portal. Flaminius Vacca relates, that in his time 184, some of the blocks of stone being thrown down in constructing the nunnery, they were found to be held together with gramples of wood instead of iron. The wood was so well preserved, that it might have been made use of again for the same purpose; but no joiner could define of what kind it was. From this cir cumstance some artists have argued that the wall was built before the age of Augustus, since such materials would have been too common for the magnificence of that emperor and his successors; but the Colosseum will show that the ancients, however magnificent, did not lavish their precious materials where any other would serve the purpose. The " opus reticulatum was used by every body in the time of Vitruvius 135 ; and perhaps wooden grampings were better adapted for peperine stone than iron ones. The three magnificent columns already mentioned, with the pilaster and the wall behind them, 134 Memorie, &c. No. 89. |