Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/520

 8 IJOMAN EXPLORATION FUND. which is of a diftereut character of construction, of the time of Trajan and Hadrian. Many other doubtful puij.ts might be settled in this manner, not by conjectures or assumptiuns, but by demonstrations. In our historical photoin"a])hs these distinctions can lie seen as well as in the walls themselves. We make oiir jtliotoirrapher use an English si.K-foot rule, painted alternately black and 'white, so that the number . of bricks iu a foot may be counted on the jiliotograph as well as on the spot, or the size of the stones t.>f the kings measured. These i)hotographs are really valuable historical documents ; many of the objects they represent have since been destroyed. The exact sites of the Porta Trigemina, the Septizonium, and several other disputed points could be settled in a week, with sulHcient funds and peiTnission to dig. Upon the great Agger of Scrvius Tullius were rows of houses of the time of the early Empire on each side, with a paved road imder it at the bottom of the great fosse at the foot of the agger. Each house Avas three or four stories high, but had no back windows, and had a reservoir of water in the cellar, supplied by an aqueduct which ran along the foot of the inside of the agger at the level of the ground ; the fosse was froni fifteen to twenty feet deep below that level. Several of the remains of those houses have been destroyed within tlic last two yeans, and some iu this month of February, 1873. Tiiere is reason to believe that the small portion of the great Agger that is left has similar remains upon it, and that a perfect section might bo obtained, showing the bank DO ft. high, the two fosses, each from l-"> to 20 ft. deep, paved at the bottom, and the houses upon the .sloping sides of the bank. Unless .some great eflbrt is made, wo shall soon lose all tmces of this great Agger, and obliterate a very important chapter of the histoiy of the capital of the civilized world for many centin-ies. The Anticpiities of Home are of as much importance for the history of tlic fine arts to all the provinces of the old Koman empire as to the Italians, or even more. They have more of ancient art remaining in their provincial cities than the western nations have. If all will imite to save the more important olijccts of interest, much may bo done ; if not, they mu.st go. Poverty has hitherto preserved them ; tho total stagnation of tho Pontifical government was favourable to the i)rc- 8er'ation of anti(juities ; biit this is at an end ; stagnation has been suc- ceeded by the most wonderful activity and energy : such a change wixs Burcly never witnessed before. The Italians .seem to feel that they have to rcniedy the clVects of three or four centuries of stagnation, and are doing their iicst to make up for lo.st time. They know the real value of their anti(|uitie.s, ami arc anxious to have them preserved ; but they cannot aflbrd to do so without hel]), (uxl (hi» Iwlp vmsf !»• immrilinte, ami 7ifjt b^ (I'/fvrnfj or it will hr tfto l(it' In tiie summer of l an attempt was made to fonn a " lloman t^xploration (' 'iii>/" in which those interested in tho matter, and ablo to invest mmiri/, mi;,'ht do so in this company, instead of only giving (lonudons. If they had ilone so at the time it was proposed, all tho money then invostod wouhl have been at least t/nnilnij'lrd >y this time. 'I'hc population of Itonio is incrca.sing so rapidly by its being made tlio capital of Italy, that the value of land and houses has increased in (|uitp ft marx*llous manner, in some (.ases tcn-fi^ld or more, and <iuitL" four- fold on the avemgc. Several important properties, whit h I could t/i'-n