CHAP. Arch of BAS-RELIEF OF AURELIUS. have either existed previously or been a subsequent addition. No satisfactory explanation of this singular construction has yet been given. It has been suggested that the existence of the Rostra at or near this spot was anterior to that of the temple, but there is no good ground for such a supposition. This terrace was frequently used at the public funerals of the imperial family.373 Near the Temple of Divus Julius was a triumphal arch, erected in honour of Augustus, which probably spanned the Sacra Via, where that road was continued from the Regia through the Forum, just before it turned in the direction of the Temple of Castor. Dio mentions two occasions on which this honour was decreed to Augustus, once after the battle of Actium, and afterwards on the recovery of the standards taken by the Parthians. On the first occasion an arch was placed in the Forum; the site of the second arch (if another was erected) is not men373 See Chapter V. on the History of the Rostra. 5 tioned.3 374 374 Καὶ ἁψῖδα τροπαιοφόρον ἔν τε τῷ Βρεντεσίῳ καὶ ἑτέραν ἐν τῇ Ρωμαίᾳ ἀγορᾷ ἔδωκαν· τήν τε κρηπῖδα τοῦ Ιουλιείου ἡρῷου τοὶς τῶν αἰχμαλωτίδων νεῶν ἐμβόλοις κοσμηθῆναι. Dio Cass. li. 19. Καὶ ἁψῖδι τροπαιοφόρῳ ἐτιμήθη. Dio Cass. liv. 8. 5 Mai. Interpret. Virg. Aen. vii. 6, viii. 666. (Note 153.) A triumphal arch appears on medals of Augustus, with the legend, CIVIB . ET. SIGN. MILIT. A. PART. RECVP. and on another with the simple legend, IMP. CAESAR. 6 See before, p. 68. III. CHAP. ration of design introduced into this species of monument, from the arch of Drusus to that of Titus, and from the latter to that of Constantine. Meeting of the Comitia Tributa in the Forum. The space before the Temple of Castor, occupied in part by the monuments last described, was before their erection the least incumbered part of the open area, and was, not improbably, the place of meeting of the Comitia tributa when assembled in the Forum.377 For convenience in taking the suffrages of the several tribes, the space where they met was divided by septa, formed of posts and ropes,. Appian describes Octavianus, soon after his return to Rome on the death of Julius, as standing at the septa to canvass the voters in favour of a rogation conferring upon Antonius the command in Gaul.9 8 It should be mentioned, before leaving this part of the Forum, that in the Curiosum, as commonly read, a temple of Minerva occurs between those of Castor and Vesta. No trace of such a temple, or any room for it, can be found in or near the locality thus indicated.80 37 See before, pp. 103-105. 8 Οἱ δὲ δήμαρχοι συνεκάλουν τὸ πλῆθος ἐπὶ τὴν φυλέτιν ἐκκλησίαν, χωρία τῆς ἀγορᾶς περισχοινίσαντες, ἐν οἷς ἔμελλον αἱ φυλαὶ στήσεσθαι κατ' avrác. Dionys vii. 59. Cic. pro Sextio, 37. (Note 246.) Appian. Bell. * Ο δημότης λεώς, ἀχθόμενος τῷ ̓Αντωνίῳ, συνέπρασσεν ὅμως διὰ τὸν Καίσαρα, ἐφεστῶτα τοῖς περισχοινίσμασι καὶ δεόμενον. Civ. iii. 30. 80 Basilica Julia, Templum Castorum et Minervae, Vestam. Curiosum, in Reg. VIII. It may be suspected that under the words et mineruae is concealed the notice of some other monument, possibly lac. iuternae; or et iulii may have been misread et min. 143 CHAPTER IV. THE COMITIUM, THE CURIA, AND OTHER MONUMENTS IV. An attempt has been made in the three preceding CHAP. chapters to identify the existing remains in that part of the Forum which has been cleared to its old level. But of some historical sites belonging to the Forum no distinct traces have yet been found. Among the most important of this class are the Comitium and the Curia, the positions of which are still to be ascertained. The investigation of these localities, and of the monuments connected with them, involves some interesting togographical questions, which it is proposed to discuss in the present chapter. and The Comitium was an open space, forming part Comitium of the Forum in the larger acceptation of the Forum. latter word. In this sense the Forum included the entire public area and the monuments surrounding it; but in the present chapter the word will be generally used with a more restricted signification for the open area exclusive of the Comitium, which was probably divided from the rest of the Forum by some sort of wall or fence.3 The Comitium commanded a good view of the 381 381 Fecitque idem (Tullus Hostilius) et sepsit de manubiis comitium et curiam. Cic. Rep. ii. 17. IV. CHAP. Forum, for when the latter was used for public spectacles the former appears to have been covered with a temporary roof, as a place for the more distinguished spectators. Level of the 382 3 There has been some variance of opinion among Comitium. antiquaries whether the ancient authorities justify the conclusion that the Comitium was on a higher level than the Forum. The passage of Livy, describing the statue of Attus Navius "in the Comitium upon the steps to the left of the Curia," has been thought to refer to steps leading from the Forum to the Comitium, and therefore to imply the greater elevation of the latter. But the steps referred to may possibly have been those of the Curia. An inference in favour of the higher level of the Comitium might be drawn with some probability from the paraphrase used by Dionysius for the Comitium, when he describes Romulus as placing his tribunal in "the most conspicuous part of the Forum," and from the fact of the Comitium being used as a place for 382 Eo anno primum, ex quo Hannibal in Italiam venisset, comitium tectum esse memoriae proditum est, et ludos Romanos semel instauratos ab aedilibus curulibus. Liv. xxvii. 36. 3 Smith, Dict. Geog. art. Roma, p. 777. Statua Atti,. . . in comitio in gradibus ipsis ad laevam curiae fuit. Liv. i. 36. Compare Liv. i. 48. (Note 409) 4 Χωρίον τε, ἐν ᾧ καθεζόμενος ἐδίκαζεν, ἐν τῷ φανερωτάτῳ τῆς ἀγορᾶς (πаρEσкEvάKƐTO). Dionys. ii. 29; Niebuhr, Hist. Rom. (Engl. Transl.), vol. ii. 314, note 720. If, as there is some ground for thinking, the Hephaesteum or Vulcanale of this historian is the same as the Comitium, it is distinctly placed above the level of the Forum. See further on, p. 164. |