Nature and Art, December 1, 18G6.] 
THE PALACE OF THE C33SARS. 
227 
hall. This, then, was the Basilica Jovis, where 
St. Laurence and other Christians were condemned. 
The apartment No. III. is the Lararium, which 
in every Roman house is found in or at the side of 
the A trium ; and Roman writers speak of sacrifices 
made to the La/res in the Atrium of the palace, 
before the sittings of the Senate. 
Returning to the Tablinum, we pass thence into 
the Peristylium, or interior colonnade, which always 
occupied the centre of a Roman house. The area 
of this Peristylimn, would, if completely cleared, 
measure more than three thousand square 
metres ; but at least one-third of it is cut off 
by the buildings of the Villa Mills (anciently 
Villa Palatina), which also conceals a part of the 
house of Augustus, and, according to all ap- 
pearances, the Temple of Apollo. A part of the 
portico of the Peristylimn, which was in Carrara 
marble, has been restored by M. Rosa, and, as in 
the other parts of the palace, considerable fragments 
of ancient yellow and other marble facings are 
found on the jravement and along the stylobates. 
Here were, perhaps, the mural pkengites which, 
according to Suetonius, the suspicious Domitian 
caused to be polished with great care ; so that, 
while walking under the portico, he could see with 
a glance of the eye what was passing behind him. 
Under the gallery to the south of the peristyle, 
marked on the plan with the letter H., you descend 
a few steps and find two small chambers, decorated 
with paintings and stucco-work, which have long 
borne the arbitrary designation of the Baths of 
Livia, and which, M. Rosa believes, belong to the 
Augustan period. Beyond the Peristylium opens 
No. IV., the Triclinium (from the Greek word 
rphckwov, three beds), situated, according to custom, 
in the same area as the peristyle, and reproducing 
exactly the form and arrangement adopted by the 
Greeks, according to Vitruvius, for grand ban- 
quetting-rooms. Csesar’s famous military architect 
says that these apartments opened towards the 
north, that they were arranged to contain two long 
tables placed facing each other, and that they were 
pierced with windows of the same width as the 
doors, in order that the guests “lying” at table 
should have a full' view of the gardens upon which 
they looked out. All these features are found in 
the apartment in question, and, in addition, a large 
apsis at the end opposite the door, and where, no 
doubt, was placed a third and principal table — that 
of the Emperor. Amongst the vestiges of decoration 
in this room are enormous pieces of granite columns, 
and large fragments of red porphyry, which belonged 
to the pavement of the apsis ; these have all been 
placed in situ, so as to give some idea of this 
sumptuously-decorated chamber. 
To the westward of the Triclinium has been 
discovered a vast Nymphceum (No. V.), which 
doubtless held the place of one of the usual 
gardens, and which was evidently decorated in a 
manner to deceive the eye. In the centre of this 
apartment is a monumental fountain of elliptical 
form (shown in the plan), and furnished with two 
ranges of niches, which were evidently decorated 
with marbles, and contained statues. The lower 
range of niches touched the water, so that the 
reflection of its surface added to the brilliancy 
of the marbles and the richness of the ornaments. 
Here was found a fine statue of Eros, lifesize and 
with large wings, the restoration of which has been 
entrusted by the Emperor to M. Charles Steinhauser, 
a clever German sculptor - . M. Rosa has decorated 
this fountain with flowers and verdure, as he con- 
ceives it to have been in the time of the Csesars. 
Not far from the Nymphwum is a fine octagonal 
chamber (No. VI.), having four doors in its sides 
and the same number of niches in its angles ; two 
of the doors communicate with the Peristylium and 
a side colonnade, and the room seems to have 
formed the main entrance to the former on that 
side of the palace. 
The figure VII. marks eight rooms of various 
dimensions, but all hexahedral in form. V itruvius 
tells us that this was the arrangement of conversa- 
tion rooms, not only in the gymnasia, but also in 
private mansions. 
The rooms indicated by the figure VIII. may be 
considered as antechambers to the Basilica and the 
Tablinum. 
The apartments above named may be considered 
as constituting the principal mass of the Aides 
Publicoe, and the private apartments were com- 
paratively unimportant. Of the latter, that marked 
IX. is believed to have been the library ; and 
No. X. one of those halls for declamation, which, 
borrowed from the Greeks, were first brought into 
use by the first of the Flavians. * 
To the right of the building is a portico — a con- 
tinuation, in fact, of that in front, and which has 
been uncovered along the whole side of the 
building. As in the principal fagade may be re- 
marked three chief entrances, I ) . E. F., of which 
the first leads to the Basilica, the second to the 
Tablinum, and the third to the Peristylium, through 
the vestibule (VI.) already referred to. It will be 
perceived that these colonnades afford ready means 
of access to all the principal parts of the palace. 
The openings in the side, as well as in the chief 
colonnade, looked on to a large open space ; this 
was the Area palatina, devoted to public exercises 
and amusements. On the other side of this Area 
were the private habitations of the emperors, erected 
principally by Tiberius and Caligula. An ancient 
road, which Haverses the Area palatina and leads to 
the Peristylium, passes by the house of Tiberius. 
The excavations in this part of the hill are not 
so advanced as those on the site of the palace itself ; 
but some interesting discoveries have been made. 
A long series of vaulted cells which open on the 
Via Antigua formed, it is believed, the quarters of 
the Pretorian guard. In one of these cells are 
some rude scratchings — a galley, a man’s head, &c. 
- — which have the appearance of having been traced 
with some such instrument as the point of a sword. 
A passage connects these cells with the central 
Peristylium (M.) of the house of Tiberius. 
* See Horace, Ep. i. 3-17. 
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