SUPPLEMENT.

THE FIRST WALL OF ROME.

THE FOSS OF ROMA QUADRATA.

THIS great foss has been already mentioned in the third section of the first chapter (p. 35), but it is of so much importance for the early history of the city of Rome, and is in general so little understood, that some further account of it is called for. It is so much concealed also by having been filled up for such a length of time, that considerable study is required to understand it, and realize the fact that it was an enormous foss, which remained open and had various buildings erected in it, on the bottom of it, during the time of the later Kings and of the Republic. It was not filled up to the level of the rest of the surface of the hill until late in the first century of the Empire, under Domitian. At that time the. plan of the great public buildings called the Palaces of the Cæsars required a large level platform, and this great foss was filled up to the level of the earth on each side of it, not with earth, but by building walls across it at intervals of fifteen feet, and throwing vaults from one wall to the other. This was done to make the whole surface one large level space, of greater extent than was practicable in any other manner.

In consequence of the great excavations made for Napoleon III., and more recently for the Italian Government, by Signor Rosa, these cross-walls can now be distinctly seen in several places. One of the most obvious of them is near the west end of the foss towards the Circus Maximus, and close to the cliff on the south side of the foss, on the top of the bank of which stands the Villa Mills. In this part a deep pit is left open, in which can be seen the walls of some great building, of the large squared stones in the style of the later Kings or early in the Republic, respecting which nothing has been ascertained. On the east side of this pit, on the present level of the ground, stand the bases and parts of the columns of a portico of the time of Domitian, apparently a small temple, just outside of the tribune of the great hall or triclinium". About a hundred yards further to the east a modern flight of steps descends into a series of three chambers, now subterranean, called the "Bathchambers of Livia," probably because there is a fine picture of her

* See Historical Photographs, No. 2236, and the Plan and Section of it, No. *3194, and Plate II. of this Supplement.

time on the vault of one of the chambers; perhaps, also, because a subterranean passage leads from the south side of the house of Augustus and Livia nearly to this point. These chambers have been cut through in the most reckless manner by some of the transverse walls before mentioned. Still further to the east, and getting towards the Arch of Titus, these walls may be seen again passing under the BASILICA JOVIS, or state hall of the Empire, which is also of the time of Domitian.

The remains of these buildings of the time of Domitian are shewn in the plates of the Palaces of the Cæsars (in Part XIII.). The tall brick pier of an angle of the BASILICA JOVIS appears in all four of these views, but as they are not understood, diagrams, with some probable restorations to make it more clear, are now added. The reason for thinking that this is really a great foss of the time of the first king of Rome (by whatever name he may have been called), and not merely a natural formation of the ground, is that there are remains of vertical cliffs on each side of it, and that there is no stream of water through it. The south-west corner of Roma Quadrata stands upon the edge of it, and is built upon the rock, with subterranean passages cut in that rock passing under it, all of which can be distinctly seen, and are shewn in one of the diagrams. These passages are at two levels, the upper one leading from the foss to the house of Hortensius and Augustus, the lower one to reservoirs of water at a great depth. This is also a proof that the Palatine Hill is really one of the hills of tufa, and does not consist merely of buildings one on the top of the other, as some have asserted; the rock is visible in several places. Further on, upon this northern side of the foss, the cliff has been destroyed, either when the palaces were built, or during the Middle Ages, when the hill was turned into a great fortress. But towards the Arch of Titus remains of the great tufa wall are visible in another pit on that side, and what appears to be part of the Porta Mugionis, which would be an entrance on the south side to Roma Quadrata, the citadel of

See photograph of this painting, No. 2227.

These plates are engraved from photographs, by the process called photo-engraving, so that no drawing is required or used, and there is no opportunity for the errors of the human hand to creep in. These are authentic representations of the objects; they are necessarily reduced, but that is also done by photography. Those who want to see any particular point brought

out more distinctly must get the photograph of it, or go to Rome to see it.

See Historical Photographs of the Basilica Jovis, Nos. 2225, 2226, 2228, 2229, 2296, 3184; and Restorations and Plan of it, Nos. *3192, *3193A, 3193B, and the Photo-engravings in Part XIII.

e Foss of Roma Quadrata, No. 2298, and Diagram of it, No. 3194.

See the engraving of it, Plate III. of the Supplement.

The Foss of Roma Quadrata.

197

the first city of Rome. On the opposite side of the foss in this part is a clivus, or sloping road from the bottom of the foss to the level of the ground, the road into the city as distinct from the citadel, and separated from it by the great foss of the citadel. The pavement of this sloping road is of the time of the Empire, but it is supported by a wall of very early character, different from the wall of Roma Quadrata, and called by some a fragment of the city of Evander; it is very rude, rough work with wide joints, and has been built against the cliff, which was cut away to make the road, but it is more a wall to support the earth than one for defence, and there is no reason to suppose that it is earlier than the walls of the citadel.

The part of the road on which the Arch of Titus h stands is nearly on a level with the bottom of the foss, which is about twenty feet below the level of the surface of the ground, but far above the level of the valley. There is a clivus or sloping road up to the Summa Sacra Via, on which the Arch of Titus stands, in both directions, from the north end and from the south'; leading up also to the principal gate, which could not have been far from that triumphal arch, over the road which probably passed through it in coming

g Wall called of Evander, No. 2296. Arch of Titus, No. 303.

1 Some persons will perhaps say, we do not see this sloping road up to the level of the Arch of Titus from the north, we can see one from the south only; on the northern side the earth is nearly level. This is true according to present appearances, but this is because a great quantity of earth has purposely been accumulated there. In front of the great Basilica of Constantine the pavement of the upper part of the sloping road is visible; an excavation was begun here in the time of the first Napoleon, and was left as he left it, until 1878, when the excavations were resumed by the Italian Government. Following the line of the slope it leads to the bottom of the marble columns of the portico of the Temple of Romu. lus, the son of Maxentius (now the church of SS. Cosmas and Damian), and the columns are buried to half their height, or more than half. The bases of these columns no doubt stand on the top of a flight of steps, as at the other temple in the Via Sacra, that of Antoninus and Faustina, where the columns were excavated to their bases by Palladio, and he has recorded that they stand on the top of a flight of

twelve steps; each step would be probably nine inches high, which gives nine feet below the bases before we arrive at the pavement of the Via Sacra. The excavations of 1874 in front of the latter temple, but on the opposite side of the street or way, where the foundations of the Temple of Vesta stand, shew the same low level. The Via Sacra was therefore made in the great foss of the Palatine fortress, on its eastern side. The Clivus Sacer, with the steps, extended from the bottom of this foss to the ridge on which the Porta Mugionis must have stood. This was on the western side of the Arch of Titus, where remains have been excavated in the Farnese gardens, in what was the eastern end of the great foss on the southern side of Roma Quadrata. The Curia Veteres, or old law-courts, were probably near this gate, and on the site of the BASILICA JOVIS, but at a much lower level. That great Basilica was itself a law-court, or this must have been one of the purposes to which it was applied, just as our Westminster Hall was the King's hall of justice, as well as his hall for any other purpose. Law-courts are likely to have been continued on or near the same site to which the people were accustomed.

up from the south. The Romans were fond of sharp angles in their fortifications, and this no doubt contributed to the defence. The north-eastern part of the Palatine projects considerably at this point, and must have formed an admirable defence for the approach to the gate from the south, while the Velia defended the approach on the east side of the clivus, both from the south and from the north, before part of it was cut away to build the great Basilica of Constantine. The Arch of Constantine' stands at the foot of the southern clivus, and marks the line of the Via Triumphalis, which passed under both this and the Arch of Titus.

A level platform was made on the neck of land connecting the Palatine proper with that part of it called the Velia. This platform is called the Summa Sacra Via, and is likely to have been also called Intermontium (if, indeed, there is any ancient authority for this name). The great platform was afterwards extended at the south end towards the Colosseum. This has been made more distinctly visible than it was before in consequence of the excavations of 1874. There is good reason to believe that on this platform the house of Vedius Pollio, and afterwards the Porticus Liviæ, were erected, but this does not belong to the present subject.

All these great earthworks are on such a gigantic scale that the whole population of the city must have been employed upon them, and this could only be done under a king. The dates of buildings used in our Chronological Table are those of Livy according to the best editors, and the remains of these buildings agree with these dates in a remarkable manner. Many passages quoted from Livy, and Dionysius, and Tacitus, and Varro, appear irreconcilable with any theory, but that they are simply true history. These passages are given in English in the text, and the original Latin text is generally given in the notes at the foot of the page. The history of the city of Rome has long been considered a necessary part of the education of every one who can pretend to be educated at all, and is

According to the modern Roman theory, the triumphal procession of the army turned short round to the west after passing through the Arch of Titus, in order to go up to the Basilica Jovis to receive their decorations from the Emperor; and then went down the Clivus Victoriæ, or Triumphalis, at the north-east corner of the Palatine, to go to the Forum Romanum, and so up to the Capitol, passing under the Arch of Septimius Severus and up the Clivus

Capitolinus. It seems more probable that the Clivus Triumphalis was the sloping road up to the Arch of Titus from that of Constantine, and that the line of the march was along the Via Sacra.

See this Basilica with the Velia, No. 2251.

Arch, No. 809.

See Photograph of this end of the platform, No. 3228.

The Foss of Roma Quadrata.

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likely to continue to be so considered. The great object of this work is to ascertain the true history by the existing remains, and to explain the one by the other.

The construction of the walls of the cities on the hills round Rome in all directions, agrees so remarkably well with that of the wall of Roma Quadrata, and on the other hills of Rome, that if there is any truth in the principle of comparative archæology, they must be all of nearly the same period, and that period has been long acknowledged to be from five hundred to a thousand years before the Christian era. We have walls of this character in the Latin city of Tusculum ", and we have scarped cliffs, like those of the Janiculum° and the old Vatican fortress, at Alba Longa 9 and at Gabii', where the hard stone did not require walls to support the cliffs in a vertical position; we have similar walls again in the Sabine city of Varia”, the Latin city of Lanuvium, the Etruscan city of Veii " (where there is little wall left, but that little is of the same character as the others). At Fiesole and at Volterra y the same story is told, and in many other ancient cities, where the building-material is the same.

This identity of the walls of Roma Quadrata with those of the neighbouring cities of the Etruscans and others, has frequently been denied, because they have been compared with such as are of a different building-material. In the chapter of this work on the Historical Construction of Walls (pp. 4, 11, 30, 31, and Plates I., II., XVIII.), it is shewn that some kinds of stone will not split into oblong blocks, and other kinds will only split into such blocks; and as in all primitive fortifications the stone is split with wedges off the rocks, and not cut with any iron tool, it was impossible to have walls of squared stone in those districts where the stone will only split into polygonal blocks, such as le Puy en Velay for instance, better known in England than similar volcanic districts in Italy, where they are quite as numerous as in any other country.

The Lupercal has been shewn to be a cave under the north-west corner of the Palatine Hill, against which Augustus built two chambers, and made a specus or conduit for the water of the Aqua Argentina or di S. Giorgio, which comes first from the Fountain of Egeria and the Coelian, then after passing under the west side of the Palatine, gushes out from under the tufa rock in this cave".