226 
THE PALACE OF THE CiESABS. 
[Nature and Art, December 1, 1866. 
altar of Consus, the curios veteres, and the sacellum 
larium. 
As regards the constructions of the time of the 
Caesars, they may be divided into two groups : — ■ 
those which constitute the Imperial palace properly 
so called — the JEdes Publicce or Imperatoricc ; and 
those which were buil t by successive emperors in 
the vicinity of the public edifice to which they 
were attached. Of course the former, the public 
buildings, have been the principal objects of 
M. Rosa’s attention and research. They occupy 
the upper part of the plan to the left, and are 
marked with the Roman numerals I. to X. This 
colossal edifice has always been considered as the 
work of the Flavians ; and M. Rosa attributes it 
more especially to Domitian, the last of the Csesars 
of that family. It is true that Suetonius, in his 
account of the great works executed by Domitian, 
does not mention the rebuilding of the palace 
of the Csesars ; and equally so that, notwith- 
standing that emperor’s habit of giving his own 
name to all the works accomplished during his 
reign, the palace in question is not called after him 
by any contemporary writer, even amongst his most 
devoted flatterers. This may, however, have arisen, 
suggests M. Rosa, from its essentially and rigorously 
public destination. The publicity of the imperial 
palace was, as it Avere, one of the stipulations of 
the compact entered into between the people and 
the Cxesars. The Great Julius, who, before being 
named Sovereign Pontiff, inhabited a simple private 
house in the Subura (in Suburd modicis cedibus, 
says Suetonius), installed himself, after his election, 
in the Domus Publica, at the foot of the Palatine 
Mount, near the point marked in the plan Avitli the 
Arabic figure 7. 
But the Domus Publicci did not contain merely 
the habitation of the Caesars, but also, as in the 
time of the ancient kings, the Sacred Hearth of the 
Country and the temple of Yesta. Dionysius of 
Halicarnassus tells us, that Avhen the modest house 
of Hortensius on the Palatine Mount, inhabited by 
Augustus, had been burnt, that politic sovereign, 
on erecting another on rather a larger scale, ordered 
that it should be open to the public, not only because 
it had been built with the public money, but because, 
in his quality of Sovereign Pontiff, he ought to live 
in a house which was at once private and public. 
This tradition became afterwards a sort of political 
dogma, even under the successors of Augustus. 
The palace of the Csesars never ceased to be a truly 
public edifice Avhere each citizen was at home : it 
had not the accommodations of a private Roman 
dwelling ; but the general arrangements, which 
were invariable and in a sense sacred, Avere main- 
tained. It was the House of the Roman People, 
and Csesar was only the first citizen. Nero lost 
sight of this clause of the contract. He found 
that the emperor Avas “ not even lodged as a man,” 
and built for himself that famous House of Gold, 
with its ponds, woods, baths, pavilions, and pastures, 
and which encroached, over the valley where the 
Amphitheatre now stands, to the very summit of 
Mount Esquilinus. But the Flavian emperors took 
care to destroy, or to apply to other uses, this monu- 
ment of imperial folly ; and Domitian would not 
allow the palace of the Csesars to be rebuilt on an 
enlarged plan, adopting in preference that of the 
old Roman House. 
The edifice, then, Avhose plan M. Rosa has re- 
constructed from the remnants he has discovered, 
Avas exactly that to which Nerva gave the designa- 
tion of JEdes Publicce, which Lampridius, in his 
“Life of Heliogabalus,” calls JEdes Ardicce and 
jEdes Imperatorice, and which the topographical 
writers of the fourth century called, in order to 
distinguish it from the imperial constructions, 
Sedes Imperii Pomani ; and that it was erected by 
Domitian, M. Rosa concludes from passages in 
contemporaneous writers, notably Martial and 
Statius, and from the peculiar make and stamps of 
the bricks used in its construction. The following 
is his description : — - 
The Porta vetus Palatii, at the head of the Clivus 
Palatinus , gave access to an open space in which 
the people circulated freely, and which held, in the 
case of the palace, the place of the enclosed Atrium 
of Roman houses. It will be seen, on reference to 
the plan, that this A trium lies directly on the Inter- 
montium which lies beneath the whole extent of the 
palace. A large flight of steps, mentioned by Ovid 
and Suetonius, led from the Atrium to the colonnade 
which ran all along the face of the palace ; but they 
have not yet been opened up, out of consideration 
for the buildings which now stand over the site. 
Ascending the rising ground we arrive at the 
portico, of Avhicli M. Rosa has collected all the 
fragments he could find. At three points the in- 
creased spaces between the columns mark the 
entrances to three distinct apartments. 
Of these the centre one is the Tablinum (No. I.), 
in Avhicli, during the early periods, the archives of 
the family Avere kept (tabulae, Avhence come the 
words tabulinum, tablinum) ; and there it was 
that the patron gave audience to his clients. The 
clients of the Emperor of Rome were the Roman 
people, in it the Emperor presided over the 
meetings of the Senate, his chair being placed 
in the centre of the tribune which faced the door. 
In seA T eral parts of the pavement and walls, the 
circuit of which is still complete, may be seen traces 
of rich marble incrustations. This apartment has 
passed hitherto for the famous Palatine Library, 
established by Augustus ; it was discovered in the 
year 1720, by Biancliini, who, however, could not 
pursue his investigations. 
The chamber marked II. was evidently the 
basilica, or supreme tribunal, and, consequently, 
peculiar to the imperial palace. The semicircular 
tribune with the podium, Avliere the judges sat, and 
the two small lateral staircases, which led to these 
seats, are perfectly recognizable ; and M. Rosa has 
found and replaced a portion of the transenna, ox- 
balustrade in white marble, which separated the 
audience from the accused. Thei*e are also traces 
of the columns which supported the two external 
galleries, while a piece of Avail, entire as regards 
height, serves to show what Avas the altitude of the 
