Old Rome Part 7

Unfortunately the necessary extension of the buildings attached to the railway station has resulted in the destruction of a large portion of the Servian Agger. Some large fragments of the huge blocks belonging to the Servian wall may be seen at the back of the station. Traces of a road and a gate were found which have been supposed to belong to the Via and Porta Viminalis, and many confused heaps of ruins, the relics of private houses built up against the side of the agger. In one of these the bricks bore the date of the third consulship of Servia.n.u.s, A.D. 134, and of that of Niger and Camerinus, A.D. 138.

A Hermeracles in marble was found near the station, which is figured in the _Bullettino della Commissione_ for March 1873, and numerous mosaic pavements, one of which is laid on the floor of the waiting-room at the station.

[Sidenote: Auditorium.]

One of the buildings attached to an ancient house in this neighbourhood has been carefully preserved and walled in for protection. It stands near the ruin called the Trophies of Marius, and not far from the Arch of Gallienus, and consists of a semicircular recess with ledges rising one above another in the form of a miniature theatre. A more correct description of the site is given by stating that it stands where the former gardens of the convent of the Redentoristi were situated. This building has, on account of its resemblance to a theatre, and of its position on a spot over which the famous Gardens of Maecenas probably extended, been called the Auditorium of Maecenas, and romantic ideas have been connected with it as having been the actual auditorium where Virgil and Horace may have recited their poetry to their great patron. This view, however, has been shown to be untenable by Signor Mau, who thinks with more probability that the ruin in question is an ornamental recess for decorative works of art and flowers or a fountain. Such recesses may be seen in some of the houses at Pompeii. The paintings on the walls are of a style similar to those in the Villa of Livia at Prima Porta, and the building may therefore possibly belong to the Augustan age.

[Sidenote: Porta S. Lorenzo.]

The inscriptions on the Porta S. Lorenzo at the eastern side of the Esquiline Hill tell the history of the several gateways here built by Augustus and other emperors down to Honorius. The aqueducts run along the walls from this gate to the Porta Maggiore.

[Sidenote: Porta Maggiore.]

[Sidenote: Tomb of Eurysaces.]

The Gateway of Honorius was removed from the Porta Maggiore by Gregory XVI. as the inscription on the present gate records. The removal of the old gateway disclosed the Tomb of Eurysaces, a bread contractor, which is a very fantastic monument, constructed of stone mortars used for kneading dough, and ornamented with some curious bas-reliefs of a good period of art, representing the operations of baking. The inscriptions upon it are as follows: "EST HOC MONIMENTUM MARCEI VERGILEI EURYSACIS PISTORIS AC REDEMPTORIS APPARETORUM. FUIT ATISTIA UXOR MIHEI FEMINA OPTIMA VEIXIST QUOJUS CORPORIS RELIQUIae QUOD SUPERANT SUNT IN HOC PANARIO." The latter of these inscriptions, however, probably belongs to some other tomb, the remains of several having been found here, which lead to the supposition that this was a spot especially devoted to the burial of bakers.

The present gateway is formed by two arches of the Claudian Aqueduct, which runs along the course of the walls from this point to the corner near the Amphitheatrum Castrense. The arches are built of rusticated travertino blocks, and each of the piers is pierced with a smaller arch, decorated with Corinthian half-columns of rustic work and pediments in the usual Graeco-Roman style of a triumphal arch. This gateway is one of the most characteristic creations of Roman architecture. It conveys more than any other building I know, except, perhaps, the rusticated archways of the amphitheatre at Verona, the impression of rough force and solidity. Over the arches are three atticas, upon which the following inscriptions are cut, recording the erection and renewal of the Claudian aqueduct by Claudius, Vespasian, and t.i.tus:

TI. CLAUDIUS DRUSI F. CAISAR AUGUSTUS GERMANICUS PONTIF. MAXIM. TRIBUNICIA POTESTATE XII. COS V. IMPERATOR XXVII. PATER PATRIae AQUAS CLAUDIAM EX FONTIBUS QUI VOCABANTUR CaeRULEUS ET CURTIUS A MILLIARIO x.x.xXV. ITEM AMERIEM NOVAM A MILLIARIO LXVII. SUA INPENSA IN URBEM PERDUCENDAS CURAVIT.

IMP. CaeSAR VESPASIa.n.u.s AUGUST. PONTIF. MAX. TRIB. POT. II. IMP. VI. COS.

III. DESIG. III. P. P. AQUAS CURTIAM ET CaeRULEAM PERDUCTAS A DIVO CLAUDIO ET POSTEA INTERMISSAS DILAPSASQUE PER ANNOS NOVEM SUA IMPENSA URBI RESt.i.tUIT.

IMP. T. CaeSAR DIVI F. VESPASIa.n.u.s AUGUSTUS PONT. MAX. TRIBUNIC. POTEST.

X. IMP. XVII. P. P. CENS. COS. VIII. AQUAS CURTIAM ET CaeRULEAM PERDUCTAS A DIVO CLAUDIO ET POSTEA A DIVO VESPASIANO PATRE SUO URBI RESt.i.tUTAS c.u.m A CAPITE AQUARUM A SOLO VETUSTATE DILAPSae ESSENT NOVA FORMA REDUCENDAS SUA IMPENSA CURAVIT.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FORA OF THE CAESARS]

CHAPTER IV.

THE IMPERIAL FORA AND THE CAPITOLIUM.

[Sidenote: Trajan's Forum.]

[Sidenote: Ruin in the Salita del Grillo.]

The whole s.p.a.ce between the Quirinal and the Capitoline Hills was occupied by the immense Forum and public buildings which Trajan constructed. The Column of Trajan, with its wonderful spiral reliefs, still marks the site of this great ma.s.s of masonry; but the remainder, which included a basilica, two libraries, a temple, and two extensive porticoes, has disappeared with the exception of a fragmentary ruin in the Via della Salita del Grillo under the Quirinal. This ruin is the remains of a part of the great semicircular side of Trajan's Forum under the Quirinal Hill.

It consists of a brick building of two stories high, containing in the lower story small rooms measuring about ten feet square, probably shops or offices for notaries and lawyers' clerks. The interior of three of the rooms is covered with plaster, and painted roughly. The floors were covered with mosaic pavement of a common kind, of which much still remains in situ. Above these rooms runs a corridor with arched windows, at the back of which a row of large and high chambers opens, resting upon the natural rock of the Quirinal Hill. The front is faced with brick pilasters on travertine bas.e.m.e.nts, in a mixed Doric and Ionic style, and there were formerly pediments over the windows.

It will be seen by reference to the plan that a small portion of the Forum of Trajan can be now seen in the Piazza della Colonna Trajana. The arch from which the beautiful bas-reliefs on Constantine's Arch were robbed, probably stood in the Via del Priorato at some distance from the Piazza.

The two double rows of bases now to be seen in the Piazza formed a part of the great Basilica Ulpia, part of the ground-plan of which is still preserved on two fragments of the Capitoline map. Many fragments are to be seen here of the columns which supported the roof of the basilica, among which those of grey granite, probably belonging to the outer rows of columns, are most conspicuous.

[Sidenote: Column of Trajan.]

The great PILLAR with its well-known spiral bas-reliefs, perhaps the most interesting and instructive monument of antiquity in Rome, was surrounded when the buildings round it were complete with a narrow court not more than forty feet square. The south side of this was formed by the Basilica Ulpia, the eastern and western by the libraries, and on the north there was probably an open colonnade, the line of which can be traced leading to the structures beyond, where stood the temple dedicated to Trajan. Thus we discover a fact which seems at first somewhat surprising, that the pillar could not be viewed in its full height from any side, and that the upper part of it alone was visible from the Forum over the roof of the basilica.

That it was intentionally thus enclosed is evident, for had the Greek architect Apollodorus of Damascus, who designed the Forum, wished it to be where the full colossal proportions could be seen, the open s.p.a.ce of the Forum was close at hand, in the centre of which it might have been placed.

But it is not unlikely that the sight of a column was almost inseparable in the Greek architectural ideas from an entablature and pediment. The Greeks did not place their statues on the top of columns, and probably had this reason for it, that a single column cannot form a whole by itself, and wears a forsaken and deserted aspect when viewed from any distance. An obelisk conveys a different meaning, and the use of a single column cannot be justified by it. The obelisk tapers upwards and completes itself, but a column instantly brings the idea of support with it. Obelisks, moreover, were never used singly by the Egyptians, but always placed in pairs. The intention of the architect was not that the column should be viewed as we now view it, as a whole, but that the colossal statue of the emperor might be raised on high above his splendid group of buildings, and also that the bas-reliefs should be conveniently viewed from the surrounding galleries.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Column of Trajan.]

The height of the column is 124 feet from the pavement to the foot of the statue. It stands upon a pedestal of marble eighteen feet high, ornamented on three sides with highly interesting bas-reliefs representing trophies of Roman and Dacian armour of various kinds, the Roman labarum and the Dacian dragon, coats of mail made of scale or chain armour, helmets, curved and straight swords, axes, clubs, bows, quivers, arrows, lances, trumpets, and several kinds of military tools. On the fourth side two genii bear the tablet on which is the inscription: SENATUS POPULUSQUE ROMa.n.u.s IMP. CAESARI DIVI NERVAE F. NERVAE TRAJANO AUG. GERM. DACICO PONTIF. MAXIMO TRIB. POT. XII. IMP. VI. PP. AD DECLARANDUM QUANTAE ALt.i.tUDINIS MONS ET LOCUS TANT[is operi]BUS SIT EGESTUS.

The last words of this inscription are ill.u.s.trated by a pa.s.sage of Dion Ca.s.sius, who says that Trajan placed a colossal pillar in his Forum to be his own tomb, and also to show the amount of labour expended upon the Forum, the slope of the hill which previously occupied the site having been dug away so as to afford a level s.p.a.ce for the Forum. There is no need to interpret this, as some writers have done, to mean that the ground on the spot where the column stands had previously been as high as the top of the column. Such an interpretation seems highly improbable. The view taken by Becker and Brocchi is more tenable, that the words allude to the cutting away of the Quirinal Hill, which was steep and inaccessible before but was sloped away to a point on the side of the hill as high as the top of the column. Brocchi's geological observations have made it almost certain that the ground has not been cut away to any great depth between the two hills.

The top of the column is only six feet lower than the level of the Villa Aldobrandini on the top of the Quirinal, and two feet higher than the Piazza di Ara Cli. If, therefore, at any time the ground on the site of Trajan's Forum was as high as the column, it must have formed a ridge between the Capitoline and Quirinal Hills, higher than the Capitoline and very nearly as high as the Quirinal.

In the base of the column the ashes of Trajan were deposited in a golden urn. Sixtus V. had the chamber in which the urn was placed opened, but found it empty, and it has now been walled up.

Above the pedestal are two flat stones ornamented with garlands of oak leaves, and upon them rests a round base carved in the shape of a laurel wreath. The shaft which stands immediately upon this is composed of nineteen cylindrical blocks of marble, on the outside of which a spiral band of beautifully executed bas-reliefs winds from bottom to top, covering the whole shaft. The capital is a single ring of egg-shaped ornaments with arrowheads between them, and a simple border below. On a pedestal above it stood originally the colossal bronze-gilt statue of Trajan. This statue and pedestal were probably carried off during the robberies committed at Rome by the Byzantine emperors, A.D. 663. Sixtus V.

replaced it by a modern cylindrical pedestal and statue of S. Peter. The ancient winding staircase hewn in the solid blocks of marble, and lighted by narrow openings, still leads to the top. From thence it may be seen how difficult it is to suppose that the ground ever rose to such a height between the Capitoline and Quirinal as has been imagined by many historians and topographers.

[Sidenote: Bas-reliefs representing scenes in the Dacian wars.]

The magnificent wreath of bas-reliefs which winds round the shaft may be best studied by means of the model to be seen in the French Academy on the Pincian Hill, or that in the Kensington Museum. It contains the history of two campaigns against the Dacians, and has been ingeniously and minutely interpreted by several writers. A complete account of this marble history of the Dacian wars, with a discussion of all the historical and antiquarian points connected with it, would occupy several volumes, and we must, therefore, content ourselves with noticing the general character of the work and some few of the more interesting portions.

[Sidenote: Trajan's first campaign in Dacia.]

Two campaigns are represented. The first of these took place in the year 101, and during it Trajan's army pa.s.sed down the river Save and crossed the Danube in two divisions at Kastolatz and at the confluence of the Tjerna. The two divisions effected a junction at the pa.s.s of the Bistra, called the Iron Gate, which they forced, and then attacked and took the royal city Zermizegethusa. Trajan was not satisfied with this success, but pushed on into the heart of the enemy's country, and gained a great victory at Tapae, after which Decebalus, the Dacian king, sued for peace.

The bas-relief begins at the base by a representation of the banks of the Save, down which the Roman army pa.s.sed, and shows military storehouses, piles of wood, stacks of hay, and wooden huts. Then follow forts with soldiers on guard, and boats carrying barrels of provisions.

The river G.o.d Danube then appears and looks on with astonishment at the bridge of boats over which the Roman army is pa.s.sing. The baggage of the soldiers on the march, tied to the top of the vallum or palisade which they carry, and the different military standards, are very distinctly shown. Many of the men are without covering on their heads, but some wear lions' skins. The emperor and his staff are then introduced. He is sitting upon a suggestus or platform, and Lucius, the Praetorian prefect, sits beside him. The suovetaurilia, a grand sacrificial celebration, is the next scene, with priests in the Cinctus Gabinus and trumpeters. After this the emperor is seen making a speech to the army, and a little farther on the building of a stone encampment enclosing huts is being carried on with great vigour, and bridges are being thrown across a river, over which cavalry are pa.s.sing.

A battle seems then to take place, and the heads of two enemies are being brought to the emperor. The Dacian army with the dragon ensign and the Dacian cap, the symbol of superior rank, seen upon the statues of the Dacian prisoners on the Arch of Constantine, appears. Jupiter gives the victory to the Romans, the Dacian camp is burnt, and the Dacians fly.

Numerous representations of forts, boats, different kinds of troops, skirmishes, and sieges follow, ending with the surrender of Decebalus and the return of Trajan to Rome, where a great festival is celebrated. The arrival at Rome, and the crowd of Romans going to meet the great conqueror, are very vividly drawn. An immense number of bulls for sacrifice, altars, camilli, and half-naked popae are introduced into the triumphal rejoicings, and the first campaign ends with the figure of Trajan offering incense on the altar of Jupiter Capitolinus.

[Sidenote: Trajan's second campaign in Dacia.]

A somewhat similar series of scenes are represented in the sculptures which depict the second campaign. Perhaps the most interesting is that of the great bridge over the Danube, made of wood supported on stone piers, the foundations of which may still be seen in the bed of the river.

Apollodorus, the architect of the Forum, designed this immense work, which crossed the Danube at a spot where it is not less than 1300 yards wide, near the village of Gieli. A permanent road into Dacia and secure communications with his basis of operations having thus been secured, Trajan gradually advanced from post to post, driving the Dacians into the mountainous parts of the country. The sculptures represent a number of skirmishes and a.s.saults upon fortified places, but no regular pitched battle. At last the ghastly spectacle of the head and hands of Decebalus is exhibited on a board by two soldiers in front of the Praetorium. This disgusting scene is followed by a representation of the storming of the last strongholds of the enemy in the mountains, and a mournful procession of fugitives carrying away their goods and driving their cattle into exile forms the close of the sculptured history of the Dacian campaigns of Trajan.[76]

In these curious bas-reliefs we have a treasury of information on the religion, the military science, the habits and dress of the Romans of the Empire far more valuable than ten thousand pages of descriptive writing.

The lover of Roman antiquities will learn more by studying Fabretti's engravings of these reliefs, or the casts at the French Academy at Rome, and at the Kensington Museum, than by much book-labour. The descriptions of Livy and Polybius, Caesar and Tacitus, receive life, and movement, and interest as we look at the actual figures (oculis subjecta fidelibus) of the general and his staff; the Praetorian guards marked by their belts over the left shoulder; the fierce-looking standard-bearers and centurions with their heads covered by lions' skins, the s.h.a.ggy manes of which stream down their backs; the rank and file carrying enormous stakes; the master masons, sappers, and pioneers, with their axes and crowbars; the lancers, heavy and light cavalry, and royal chargers; the Sarmatian hors.e.m.e.n, clothed, both riders and steeds, in complete scale armour, and the Moorish cavalry, riding without reins.

Bridges are constructed, Roman causeways laid, forts attacked with all kinds of military engines; the charge of cavalry, the rout and confusion of a defeated army, are all most vividly depicted. Trajan in person traverses the ranks on foot, or mounts the suggestus and harangues his men, or receives with simple dignity the submission of the enemy, or marches with all the pomp of a Roman procession under the triumphal arch.

The soldierlike simplicity of the great military emperor is strikingly portrayed. There is no silken tent, or richly decorated chariot, or throne, or canopy of state to be seen. His colonel of the guards sits beside him, as an equal, on the suggestus. In the midst of a battle the emperor tears up his robe to bind the wounds of his soldiers; he is present everywhere, wearing a sword and fighting in person. Nothing could be more ill.u.s.trative of the state of Roman affairs in that iron age when again, as in the olden times, a rough and unlettered warrior, fresh from the camp, swayed the destinies of the empire.

In this vast spiral relief there are said to be above 2500 figures of men sculptured, and the higher they are placed on the column the larger are their dimensions, showing the care that was taken to counteract the effects of the increased distance from the eye. The whole of the carving from base to summit is executed with equally minute care, though the upper part can never have been easily visible, except from the windows or roofs of the basilica and the libraries which, as we have seen, were placed very near. The opinion which prevailed for some time, that the figures had been coloured, is incorrect, as the more minute examination since made has proved that the colours imagined to be artificial are the natural results of the decay of the stone and oxidisation of the metallic parts of the structure, under the effects of the rain, sun, and dust.

[Sidenote: Remains found on the site.]

A vast number of fragments of columns, of inscriptions, and of architectural ornaments have been dug up at various times on the site of Trajan's Forum. The great granite columns which now lie near the base of the pillar were found in laying the foundations of the Church of S. Maria in Loreto, by the architect, the elder San Gallo, and are mentioned as lying near that church in the middle of the sixteenth century. The equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, in the Piazza del Campidoglio, stands upon a pedestal made by Michael Angelo out of an immense fragment of entablature found on the site of Trajan's Forum.