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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



ate in the vicinity of the Palatine, is the temple 

 of Castor, called by Cicero " the most illustrious 

 of monuments, a memorial of the entire political 

 life of the Romans." Of this there remain three 

 columns which have always been an object of 

 study and admiration to artists. They appear 

 more striking than ever, now that we can, owing 

 to the excavation, look at them from a lower level. 

 These first excavations accomplished, it was 

 found that we were in possession of one whole 

 side of the Forum, the southern, from the Capito- 

 line to the Palatine. Hence all that remained to 

 be done was to push the work on toward the north 

 side, and the remainder of the Forum was sure to 

 be discovered. We shall first come upon a paved 

 street skirting the monuments just named, and 

 ascending to the Capitol. On the opposite side 

 of this street was a sort of square covered with 

 great slabs of travertine, and about one hundred 

 and twenty metres in length. This square was, 

 as it were, the centre of the Forum. It is filled, 

 especially alongside of the street, with large blocks 

 of stone, on which must have stood the column 

 and statues which were so numerous in the Forum. 

 Near the middle, a little below the column of 

 Phocas, there is a larger heap of stones apparent- 

 ly belonging to the substructure on which was 

 erected the famous colossal statue of Domitian; 

 at all events, this must have been its site. Statius, 

 the courtier poet, has celebrated the erection of 

 this statue in verses in which, defying all shame 

 and all verisimilitude, he specially commends Do- 

 mitian for his gentleness, ranks him high above 

 Cajsar, and represents the ancient republican he- 

 roes as complimenting him. As luck would have 

 it, the poet, in the midst of these distasteful plati- 

 tudes, has contrived to render us a signal benefit. 

 In enumerating the edifices by which the statue 

 of his hero is surrounded, naming them and indi- 

 cating their sites, he gives us information of great 

 value as tending to identify all these ruins. " Be- 

 hind him," says Statius, " rises the temple of Con- 

 cord ; on one side of him stands the Basilica of 

 Julius, and on the other that of ^Emilius. Full 

 in front is the monument of him who first opened 

 for our princes the road to heaven " — viz., the 

 temple erected in honor of Julius Caesar after his 

 deification. Now, it was a point of high impor- 

 tance to discover this temple. And, as Statius 

 clearly points out the direction in which it was to 

 be looked for, it was soon found on the east side 

 of the Forum, in the open space extending from 

 the temple of Castor to the temple of Antoninus 

 and Faustina. Of this temple of Julius only 

 some shapeless ruins of the substructure now re- 



main, but that these ruins really belong to the 

 edifice in question is proved beyond cavil. It 

 was observed that the steps in front do not, as is 

 usual, extend the whole length of the facade ; in 

 the middle is a wall of peperine faced with slabs 

 of marble, dividing the two narrow stairways. 

 This wall used to support a platform from which 

 orators could address the people. Now, we know 

 that Caesar conceived the idea of erecting a new 

 hustings facing the ancient Rostra ; that Augus- 

 tus adorned it with the beaks of the ships taken 

 at Actium ; and that it was situated in front of the 

 temple which he built in honor of his uncle, on 

 the very spot where the body of the great dicta- 

 tor was burned. This hustings once found, it is 

 beyond doubt that the monument back of it can 

 be none other than the temple of Caesar. 



The discovery of this temple enables us 

 clearly to define the limits of the Forum. We 

 have made out three of its sides, and the fourth 

 alone we have not been able to unearth ; it un- 

 derlies a portion of new Rome, and in order to 

 bring it to light we should have to tear down all 

 the houses from San Lorenzo in Miranda as far 

 as San Martino. Fortunately, we can pretty accu- 

 rately determine what we should find here. The 

 texts of ancient writers are pretty explicit with 

 regard to this part of the Forum, and a certain 

 very singular discovery places it so to speak 

 under our very eyes. In the course of the exca- 

 vations made near the column of Phocas, there 

 were found two bass-reliefs, belonging apparent- 

 ly to the first century, but which were worked up 

 into buildings erected during the middle ages. 

 The subject of these bass-reliefs has given rise 

 to much heated debate, yet every one admits 

 that the scene is laid in the Forum, and that the 

 artist intended to represent its principal monu- 

 ments. In one of the bass-reliefs we plainly 

 recognize the temples of Castor and of Saturn, 

 as also the Julian Basilica, that is to say, the edi- 

 fices of the south side of the Forum. Now, as 

 the other one was designed to face this, it is cer- 

 tain that it contains the monuments on the oppo- 

 site side of the Forum — the one side hitherto 

 not unearthed. Thus we are in possession of the 

 elements necessary for a knowledge of the entire 

 Forum. 



True, it is not the Forum itself that is re- 

 stored to us by these excavations; we see noth- 

 ing but shapeless ruins, but these assuredly 

 awaken great memories. One cannot, without 

 emotion, tread the pavement of the Via Sacra 

 over which so many triumphs have passed, or 

 step upon the broad flags worn by the feet of so 



