Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1228

 1204 TIBUR, Nibby holds that it is not anterior to the 4th cen- tury of our era, its construction resembling that of the villa of Masentius on the Via Appia. There are traces of painting of the 13th century, showing that then, if nut previously, it was a Christian church. A little further on we come to an inscrip- tion which records the levelling of the Clivus Tibur- tinus in the time of Constantius and Constans. The name of the latter is purposely effaced, no doubt by the order of Magnentius. This monument was dis- covered in 1736, and re-erected by order of the ma- gistrates of Tibur at the same spot where it was found. The delightful country in the vicinity of Tibur caused many villas to be erected there during the latter period of the Republic and under the first Caesars, as we see from the writings of Catullus, Horace, Propertius, Statius, and other pcets. Of these villas, however, of which we shall mention only the more interesting, there are but few remains, and scarcely any that can be identified with certainty. The most striking are those commonly called the villa of Maecenas on the SW. side of the town, near the Cascatelle. Ligorio was the first who called this building the villa of Maecenas; but there is no authority for the assumption. It was probably founded on a wrong conception of a passage in Horace (Od iii. 29. 6, seq.), which is also quoted by Mr. Cramer (Italy, vol. ii. p. 60) under a misap- prehension that it contains an allusion to a residence possessed by Maecenas at Tibur, instead of to his town-house on the P^squiline. The plan of this building published by Marquez and Uggeri is correct. It was founded on gigantic substructions, the magni- tude of which may be best observed on the N. side, or that towards the valley of the Anio. It is an immense quadrilateral edifice, BSTj feet long, and 4.50 broad, surrounded on three sides by sumptuous porticoes. The fourth side, or that which looks towards Rome, which is one of the long sides, had a theatre in the middle of it, with a hall or saloon on each side. The porticoes are arched, and adorned on the side towards the area with half colutnns of the Doric order. Behind is a series of chambers. An oblong tumulus now marks the site of the house, or, according to Nibby, who regards it as the temple of Hercules, of the Cella. The pillars were of traver- tine, and of a beautiful Ionic order. One of them still existed on the ruins as late as 1812. This im- mense building intercepted the ancient road, fur which, as appears from an inscription preserved in the Vatican, a vault or tunnel was constructed, part of which is still ext.ant. Hence it gave name to the Porta Scura, or Obscura, mentioned in the Bull of Benedict, which it continued to bear at least as late as the 15th century. To our apprehension, the plan here laid down is rather that of a palace or villa, than of a tem]]le, nor do we perceive the resemblance, insisted on by Nibby, to the temple of Fortune at Pi'aeneste. It is not probable that the chief fane of Hercules, the patron deity of Tibur, should have been erected outside the town, nor would it have been a convenient spot for Augustus to administer justice, as we have mentioned that he did in his frequent retirements to Tibur, in the porticoes of the temple of Hercules. The precincts of the Forum would have been more adapted to such a purpose. But if that emperor so much frequented Tibur, evidently the favourite among all his country retreats (Suet. I. c), he must have had a suitable residence for his reception. Might TIBUR. not this villa have heen his palace ? Nibby himself observes that the style of building is of the Augustan, or transition, period; and a subject would scarcely have ventured to occupy the highroad with his substructions. But we offer this notion as a mere conjecture in favour of which we can adduce nothing but its probability. Catullus had a paternal estate in the neighbour- hood of Tibur; and the pretended site of his house is still pointed out in the valley by Monte CatUlo. It is evident, however, from his address to his farm (Carm. 42), that it was more distant from the town, and lay at a point where the boundaiy between the Sabine and the Tiburtine territory was uncertain. He himself wished it to be considered as in the latter, probably as the more fashionable and aristocratic situation ; but his ill-wishers persisted in asserting that it was Sabine. Horace had also a residence ut Tibur, besides his Sabine farm; and, according to his biographer, it was situated near the grove of Tiburnus (Suet. Vit. IJo7:) but whether it was at the spot now pointed out, near the hermitage of 5. Antonio, on the road from Tivoli to the Cas- catelle, is very problematical, the remains there being, according to Nibby (Dtntomi, iii. p. 221), of a period anterior to that of Horace. Nibby would identify them as belonging to the villa of Sallust, who, if we may trust the Declamatio in Sallusthim (c. 7) falsely ascribed to Cicero, had a residence at Tibur. But this is mere conjecture. Equally un- certain is the site of the villa of Vopiscus, a jioet of the age of Domitian, of which Statius has left us a pretty description (Silv. i. 3). The grounds seem to have extendid on both sides of the river, and from certain particulars in the description, Nibby (Dhi- torni, iii, p. 216) imagines that he has discovered the spot near the place commonly assigned to the villa of Catullus and the grove of Tiburnus, in the valley between M. Catillo and M. Peschiavatnre. The Cynthia of Propertius, whose real name was Hostia (Appul. Apol. ii. p. 405, ed. Bosscha), lived and died at Tibur (Prop. iii. 30, iv. 7. 85, &e.); so that scarcely any place was more associated with the domestic life of the Ronian poets. The situa- tion of the villa of Quintilius Varus, a little fur- ther on the same road, is rather better supported than most of the others. Horace alludes to the estate of Varus at Tibur, which appears to have lain close to the town {Od. i. 18. 2). A tract on the declivity of Monte Peschiavatore, opposite to the Cascatelle, bore the name of Quintiliolo as far back as the 10th century, and the little church at this spot is called La Madonna di Quintiliolo, an appel- lation which may possibly have been derived from the family name of Varus. Here are the remains of a magnificent villa, in which marble pavements, columns, capitals, statues, consular coins, &c., have been discovered, and especially, in 1820, two beauti- ful marble Fauns, now in the Vatican. Just below this villa is the Ponte Acquoria, which, as well as the surrounding district, takes its name, literally " the golden water," from a beautifully clear spring which rises near it. This bridge was traversed by the firimitive Via Tiburtina. One arch of it still remains, constructed of large blocks of travertine. Near it is another bridge of bricks of the im}ierial times, as well as a modern one of the 15th century, but none of these are at present in use. On the other side of the river, which is crossed by a rude wooden bridge, the road ascends the Clivus Tibur- tinus in returning towards the town. Portions of