Populi

Bacco, which was built against the Arch of Severus. CHAP. I. Nothing more, as far as I am aware, is known of this monument. It appears to have been distinct from the Milliarium Aureum, which is separately named in the Notitia, between the Capitolium and the Via Jugaria.18 Becker, who maintains the Genius identity of the Umbilicus and the Milliarium, Romani. has suggested that the circular pedestal may have been that of a Genius Populi Romani which is said to have been placed at the Rostra by Aurelian. At the time of the triumvirate of Octavianus, Antonius, and Lepidus, there appears to have existed a temple of some importance dedicated to this deity, near that of Concord. Its site is unknown.50

9

or Rostra.

Commencing from the edge of the so-called Tribunal Umbilicus Romae is a platform, or terrace, on a level (or nearly so) with the ground towards the Capitol, but with a perpendicular face, about ten feet high, forming part of a circle towards the Forum, which face has been cased with marble. Part

of this monument is covered by the modern road. Below it, at a little distance, are the remains of a

48 S. Sergii, ubi umbilicum Romae. MS. Einsiedlen. (Becker, Handbuch, i. 344.) See Notitia in Reg. vIII. (Note 61.)

9 Genium populi Romani aureum in rostra posuit. Catal. Scrip. Vienn. lib. ii. p. 246. (Becker, Handbuch, i. 360.) See further, p 39. Forum Romanum Magnum, Genium Populi Romani aureum, equum Constantini, senatum, atrium Minervae, Forum Caesaris, Augusti, Nervae Trajani, etc. Notitia in Reg. vi.

50 Γύπες τε ἐπί τε τοῦ νεὼ τοῦ Γενίου τοῦ δήμου καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ̔Ομονοίας πаμжλýОεiç idрúlnoav. Dio Cass. xlvii. ii. Ib. 1. 8.

CHAP. I. low structure, which appears to have been carried in a straight line across this part of the Forum, and a portion of which is to be seen in the foot-passage leading under the modern street. The base of the latter structure is upon the same level as that of the curved terrace. The former of these monuments was recognised by Canina as one of the Rostra of the Forum, but there is no mark, where the face of it can be examined, of its ever having been ornamented with heads of ships; and the existence of another building in front of it at so little distance would seem to interfere

Represent

with its suggested use. It may possibly have
been the site of the Tribunal in the Comitium, of
which the structure in front probably marks the
boundary. 51
Suetonius describes a scene enacted
in this part of the Forum, of which the terrace now
in question, if it be not of later date, may have been
the stage. When Tiberius celebrated his triumph
after his return from Germany, Augustus sat in
state at the foot of the Clivus Capitolinus, at which
point Tiberius descended from his car and threw
himself before the knees of his adopted father.2

In one of the bas-reliefs on the Arch of Conthe Forum stantine, and of the date of that monument, the

ation of

in bas

relief of Constantine.

51 See Chapter IV. on the Comitium, and Tribunal.

2 A Germania in urbem post biennium regressus triumphum quem distulerat egit, prosequentibus etiam legatis, quibus triumphalia ornamenta impetrarat. Ac prius quam in Capitolium flecteret, descendit e curru, seque praesidenti patri ad genua summisit. Sueton. Tib. 20.

emperor is represented standing upon a terrace CHAP. I. between the triumphal arches of Severus and Tiberius, with attendants about him, and the people in the Forum below. The terrace so represented appears to be that now existing with the curved face.53

Returning to the wall of the Tabularium we find, separated from the Temple of Concord by a passage of about five feet in width, the ruins of a temple, three of whose Corinthian columns still

53 The above engraving is the result of an attempt to represent in perspective the locality of the bas-relief of Constantine. A photograph of the original may be easily procured. The cancelli, or marble railings, are probably the remains of the fence of the Comitium. See Chapter IV. Behind the arches are the Basilica Julia. and the temples of Saturn, Vespasian, and Concord; behind the temples the Tabularium.

Ruins of
Temples of
Vespasian

and Sa

turn.

CHAP. I. support the north corner of the entablature of the

Controversy

about the

portico, inscribed with the letters ESTITVER. This
temple, which was mounted on an elevated podium,
faced towards the Forum, and concealed a por-
tion of the loggia of the Tabularium. Before its
southern corner, on the other side of the road
which passes in front of it, is the nearly perfect
Ionic hexastyle portico of another temple, having
its façade at right angles to that of the temple last
mentioned. Upon the entablature of the Ionic
Portico may still be read the complete inscription :

SENATVS. POPVLVSQVE. ROMANVS.
INCENDIO.CONSVMPTVM. RESTITVIT.

Behind the Portico are the remains of some chambers which were below the cell of the temple; and in front is a ruined terrace where the steps of the temple must have been, and round which the Clivus Capitolinus is carried at a steep incline, continuing its upward course along the north-western side of the temple. On the opposite or south-eastern side of the temple, a lane ran towards the Tiber, and beyond the lane, which was very narrow at its opening into the Forum, is the lately cleared area of an extensive building, to which we shall presently return, and which is generally recognised as the Basilica Julia.

The two temples which I have described are Temples beyond dispute those of Vespasian and Saturn, but antiquaries have not been agreed in distin

of Saturn

aud Ves

pasian.

Temple of

according

authors.

guishing their identity. In spite of the weighty CHAP. I. opposition of Becker, modern opinion has generally agreed with Canina in ascribing the Ionic Temple to Saturn. Many of the passages from Site of ancient authors descriptive of the Temple of Saturn Saturn, which have been cited in this controversy, to old are applicable with nearly equal appropriateness on both sides. Varro speaks of the fane of Saturn as being in the "jaws" of the Capitoline hill; Servius describes the same temple as being under or before the Clivus Capitolinus, and close to the Temple of Concord; Dionysius speaks of an altar of Saturn by the root of the hill at the ascent from the Forum to the Capitol, and of the subsequent temple near the same spot; and Festus mentions the altar of Saturn at the bottom of the Clivus. If the question depended on these descriptions alone, no certain decision could be

6

54

5

54 Saturni fanum in faucibus (Capitolini montis). Varro,L.L.v.5(14). Orestis vero ossa Aricia Romam translata sunt, et condita ante templum Saturni, quod est ante clivum Capitolinum iuxta Concordiae templum. Serv. ad Aen. ii. 115. Sibi oppidum fecit (Saturnus) sub clivo Capitolino, ubi nunc eius aedes videtur. Serv. ad Aen. viii. 319. See also the citation from the Curiosum, in Note 61.

5 καὶ τὸν βωμὸν τῷ Κρόνῳ τοῦς Επειοὺς ἱδρύσασθαι μεθ' Ηρακλέους, ὃς ἔτι καὶ νῦν διαμένει παρὰ τῇ ῥίζῃ τοῦ λόφου κατὰ τὴν ἄνοδον τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγορᾶς φέρουσαν εἰς τὸ Καπιτώλιον. Dionys. i. 34.

Ἐπὶ τούτων (Αὔλου Σεμπρωνίου καὶ Μάρκου Μινυκίου) φασὶ τῶν ὑπάτων τὸν νεὼν καθιερωθῆναι τῷ Κρόνῳ, κατὰ τὴν ἄνοδον τὴν εἰς τὸ Καπιτώλιον φέρουσαν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγορᾶς Τὸν δὲ προτοῦ βωμὸν αὐτόθι καθιδρύσε

θαι λέγουσι τὸν ὑφ' Ηρακλέους κατεσκευασμένον. Dionys. vi. 1.

6 Saturnii quoque dicebantur qui castrum in imo clivo Capitolino incolebant, ubi ara dicata ei deo ante bellum Troianum videtur. Festus, ed. Müller, p. 322.