Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/306

 •2oi EXPLORATIONS IN" ROME. or the private liouse of Ilatlrian. This house had been built on the low level of the old street, made at the bottom of the trench, or the fosse-Nvay of the time of the kings. In the second or third century the level of the streets through Rome was raised in many places to make them more con- venient for carriages, and to be above the level of the ordinary floods of the Tiber. For this reason, these great Thernue were built on a much higher level than the old palace liad been. But there are a great series of subterranean chambers under these Therma?, as there are under many of llic jtalaces in Rome, for use in the hot weather, as in India. It SL'cms probable that a part of the private house of Hadrian was preserved and used for these subterranean chambei-s. It is hardly possible that the chapel of the Lares, or household gods of Hadrian, could be wilfully destroyed so early as a century afterwards, when it could be preserved for use as a subterranean chapel. Tliis part of the palace is in the adjoining vineyard of the Cavaliere Guidi, who had excavated it some years since, and made an exhibition of it by the name of the Villa of ^isiiiiits Pollio. That name was given to it at the suggestion of Signer Pellegrini, who has the well-deserved reputation of being a good antiquary, but in this instance his conjecture was erroneous. Asinius Pollio lived in the time of Cicero, more than a hundred years before the time of Hadrian. The whole construction and decoration of this building is of the time of Hadrian ; still the extent, which is so great, and the distance from the previous excavations of Guidi, might lead many persons to tliiidv that this could not be pait of the same building. To ascertain this point, as we could not afford to e.xcavatc the whole series of rhaiidjcis at that depth, a tunnel was made thnmgh from the chambers excavated last year to llios(! which (niidi had excavated ])reviously. in making this tunnel, seventy yards loni;, two more ])ainted walls ha<l to be cut tbronirli, and Ne came to the lu(A of a fine inai-ble staircase, going up lidni this low level to that of the Therma) above, it is now a matter of demonstration that the whole of this great build- ing was one large j»alace. The expense, howt V( r, o(" exca- vating the whole of this site, valuable as the woik would have been, was too gi'eat i«)r (jur resources. Attention having been now directed to this subject, the