the modern road into Tuscany), near the posthouse of La Storta: some slight remains of the usual material of Roman roads are to be seen on that spot; and the whole enables us to trace the steps of the triumph for nearly nine miles, as the conqueror arrived from the maritime Alps and Liguria. Whether the procession had come along the Via Aurelia, or had left the Via Cassia at the place alluded to, it first appeared to the eyes of those who crowded the Campus Martius on the summit of the Clivus Cinnæ; it descended and crossed the Tyber by the bridge, whose foundations are still to be traced a little below the Ponte St. Angelo; it would then move through the Campus Martius towards the Capitol. There were other roads by which the triumphs approached the city; but a procession moving in the direction we have now delineated must have been by far the most imposing. It may now be convenient, before descending from our station, to point out a few memorable spots beyond the Tyber. When L. Quintius Cincinnatus was called from his rustic labour to assume the office of dictator, we are informed by Livy he was ploughing his four acres of land beyond the Tyber, opposite to the very place where, in the historian's time, was the Navalia. A boat was prepared, at the public expense, to convey him across the river; and he was conducted to his abode amidst a great concourse of spectators.85 We are further informed Spes unica imperii populi Romani, L. Quintius, trans Tiberim, contra eum ipsum locum ubi nunc navalia sunt, quatuor by Pliny that the dictator's fields were situated in the Vatican, and were called the Prata Quintia. As here is all the information remaining to us, the enquiry resolves itself into this:- Where were the "Navalia" in the time of Livy? It cannot be denied, that the vessels arriving at Rome up the river disposed of their cargoes beneath the Aventine hill, thus avoiding the inconvenience of passing under the Pons Sublicius; but, it is certain, the ground opposite to the Strada Marmorata could never be said to be "in Vaticano: " thus our two ancient authors are set at variance with each other. But, independently of this Navalia, or station for ships, there was another for the convenience of those arriving from the Sabine territory down the river. Nardini and other antiquaries $7 ... jugerum colebat agrum quæ Prata Quintia vocantur. . . . Dictatorem cum legati gratulantes consalutant, in urbem vocant, qui terror sit in exercitu exponunt. Navis Quintio publice parata fuit, transvectumque tres obviam egressi filii excipiunt, inde alii, &c. .... Ea frequentia stipatus, antecedentibus lictoribus, deductus est domum, et plebis concursus ingens fuit.” - Tit. Liv. lib. iii. cap. 26. .... 86 “Aranti quatuor sua jugera in Vaticano, quæ Prata Quintia appellantur, Cincinnato viator attulit dictaturam.". Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xviii. cap. 3. The 87 Roma Antica, tom. iii. p. 371. Edit. Roma, 1819. arguments of Nardini are conclusive against those who would place the Prata Quintia near the Pons Sublicius. Why a boat, prepared at the public expense, to convey the dictator across the river at the only place where there was a bridge! How could he be so ignorant of the state of affairs in the city who was within both sight and hearing of it, if his possessions were near the Ripa Grande; besides, the "nunc Navalia" implies the landing-place for ships had been changed; and what so probable as that all vessels should come into the heart of the city, as the population spread itself on the northern side? The suppose the second landing-place to coincide with the present Porto di Ripetta; nor does it seem improbable that this place might ultimately be considered more convenient for disembarking goods than even under the Aventine hill. Now a portion of land situated opposite to the Ripetta may very properly be said to be in the Vatican territory: and whilst it would be affectation to attempt to fix upon any particular spot for the Prata Quintia, confining the space between the Fort St. Angelo and the Ripetta will reconcile the only two passages left to guide us in this particular. The next topographical enquiry worthy of attention is the site of Julius Cæsar's gardens. When Horace went from the Via Sacra to visit his friend, who lodged near the gardens of Cæsar, beyond the Tyber, he passed by the temple of Vesta. antiquaries are in any degree correct about the position of that temple, we may conclude the poet meant to pass the Pons Sublicius. Suetonius If modern antiquaries have, however, only renewed the arguments and opinion of Donatus, de Urbe Rom. lib. iii. cap. 13. 88 When Piso arrrived at Rome from Narni by water, he landed at the Ripetta." Nare, ac mox Tiberi devectus, auxit vulgi iras, quia navem TUMULO CÆSARUM adpulerat ; dieque, et ripa frequenti, magno clientium agmine ipse, feminarum comitatu Plancina, et vultu alacres incessêre.". Tacit. Annal. lib. iii. cap. 9. See Dissertation IX. and X., in Reg. XI. quemdam volo visere, non tibi notum ; 93 informs us those gardens were about the Tyber"; and we further learn from Tacitus, that the temple of Fors Fortuna stood in the gardens which Julius Cæsar bequeathed to the Roman people." Fabricius places this temple near the church of S. Cosimato.9 Nardini fears to decide between the Porta Portese and the P. Settimiana. The little authority here advanced inclines to favour the former position, coinciding nearly with the spot marked out by Fabricius: thus we conclude the gardens of Cæsar occupied the present site of the parish of S. Maria in Orto, whose traditional name may be a collateral evidence to the truth of this topography. The Fabii and the Scipios, who considered virtue as essential to the welfare of the republic, would have blushed to witness the first Cæsar there in the unlawful embraces of an Egyptian queen 94; and not without indignation did the Roman peo 66 91 Populo hortos circa Tiberim publice, et viritim trecenos sestertios, legavit.". Suet. in Vit. Jul. Cæsar, cap. 83. 92" Ædes Fortis Fortunæ Tiberim juxta in hortis, quos Cæsar dictator populo Romano legaverat." Tacit. Annal. lib. ii. c. 41. P. Victor also registers the templum Fortis Fortunæ in the Regio Transtyberina: this temple was built by Servius Tullius (Varro, lib. v. cap. 3.), who also built the temple of Fortuna Virilis, in or near the Forum Boarium. It is no bad conjecture that these two edifices stood opposite to each other on the banks of the river."-Nardini, Rom. Antic. tom. iii. p. 335. and 255. 93 Fabricius, Descriptio Urb. Rom. apud Grævium, tom. iii. p. 427. 94 Cicero's Epistle to Atticus, lib. xv. 15. Consult also Middleton's Life of Cicero, vol. ii. p. 205. ple look upon those gardens as the scene of their master's disgrace, and the grave of their liberties; whilst the three hours' attendance in the antichamber of the dictator wofully discovered to Cicero that the equal rights of the citizen were lost in the imperial deportment of the conqueror of Gaul.96 96 66 Upon evidence still less convincing shall we attempt to point out the gardens of Geta: they are, indeed, connected with some important events in ancient history; but now "the double night of ignorance and ages" begins to fall around our footsteps. In the regionary of P. Victor we find the gardens of Geta in the Transtyberim." Spartian writes that Severus, before going to the armies on the Rhine, laid out some spacious gardens 97; and we know he constructed some works beyond the Tiber: the gate called after his name may be supposed to have been in that part of the city improved by him 98, if we knew where that was. 96 Yet it appears the dictator was polite. 66 Ego dubitem quin summo in odio sim, cum M. Cicero sedeat, nec suo commodo me convenire possit ? Atqui si quisquam est facilis, hic est, tamen non dubito quin me male oderit." Cicero ad Atticum, lib. xiv. epist. 1. 97" Proficiscens ad Germanicos exercitus hortos spatiosos comparavit, cum antea ædes brevissimas Romæ habuisset et unum fundum." "In these gardens the emperor set an example His meal was of frugality (but it proved in vain) to his sons. sparing, and his couch was the ground. Caracalla was then five years old, and divided some apples that were set before him with his playfellows, giving them liberally of what he had. 'Don't be so extravagant,' says Severus: thou art not in possession of royal treasures.' But I shall be,' replied the boy."-Spartian. in Vitá Sep. Severi, cap. 4. 98 Opera publica ejus præcipue Romæ extant, Septizo |