Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/747

 ROJIA. p. 106), we should infer from these words that the Rome alluded to was not on the Palatine, but on some other hill Plutarch, indeed, also alludes to the same tradition (Rom. 9), and describes Romulus as building this Roma Quadrata and afterwards en- larging it. We also find some obscure hints to the same purpose in Latin authors. Thus Solinus : " Nam ut affirmat Varro, auctor diligentissimus, Romam condidit Romulus, Marte genitus et Rhea Silvia, vel ut nonnulli, Marte et liia, dictaque est primum Roma quadrata, quod ad aequilibrium foret posita. Ea incipit a silva, quae est in area Apollinis, et ad supercilium scalarum Caci habet terminum, ubi tugurium fuit Faustuli " (i. 2). Now we must not take the whole of this account to be Varro's, as Becker does. (De Muris, cfc. p. 18, seq., Ilandb. p. 106.) All that belongs to Varro seems to be taken from a passage still extant respecting the parentage of Romulus (L. L. v. § 144, Miill.), and the words after "vel ut nonnulli,'' &c. belong to Solinus himself. Varro, therefore, is not, as Becker asserts, a witness to Rome having been called quadrata. The following passage in Festus, how- ever, manifestly alludes to another sense of Roma Quadrata, namely, as a certain hallowed place which every city built with Etruscan rites possessed, .and in which were deposited such things as were considered of good omen in founding a city, and which are described by Ovid (Fasti, i v. 821 ; cf. Plut. Rom. 11): "Quadrata Roma in Palatio ante templum Apollinis dicitur, ubi reposita sunt quae Solent boni ominis gratia in urbe cuudenda adliiberi, quia saxo munitus est initio in speciem quadratam. ]*]jus loci Ennius meminit, cum ait : ' et quis est erat Romae regnare quadratae'" (p. 258, Miill.). The place here described was, in fact, the mundus of the Romulean city. The words of Solinus, though we are ignorant of the exact position of the places which he mentions, seem to denote too large an area to be reconciled with the description of Festus. In confirmation of the latter, however, Becker (llandb. p. 107) adduces a fragment of the Capitoline plan (Bellori, Tab. xvi.), with the imperfect inscription itEA APO (area Apollinis), and, on the space beside it, a plan of a square elevation with steps at two of its sides. This, he observes, exactly answers to the description of Festus, being a " locus .saxo munitus in speciem quadratam;" and the area Apollinis was naturally before his temple. That the whole of the Romulean city, however, was also called quadrata, is evident, not only from a passage of Dionysius before cited, where lie speaks of the temple of Vesta being outside of the Rome called Quadrata (Srt ttjs reTpaywvov Kaov[j.ivrii 'P ii /.itj s.rjv iiceTuos fTfi'x'fet', (KTof 6(7X11', ii. 65), but also from the mutilated fragment of Ennius, quoted by Festus in the passage just cited. It is without sense as it stands, and MUller's emendation appears certain : — " El qui se sperat Romae regnare quadratae," where the meaning is inapplicable to a mere mundus, and must be referred to the entire city. Gates of the Falafme city. — It was required that ill a town built, like Rome, with Etruscan rites, there should be at least three gates and three temples, namely, to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva (Serv. ad Aen. i. 422); and we learn from Pliny (iii. 9) that the city of Romulus had, in fact, three if not four gates. In the time of Varro, three gates existed at Rome besides those of the Servian walls, and two of these can be referred with certainty to ROMA. 727 the Palatine city. " Praeterea intra muros video portas dici. In palatio JIucionis, a mugitu, quod ca pecus in bucita circum antiquom oppidum ex- igebant. Alteram Romanulam ab Roma dictam, quae habet gradus in Nova Via ad Volupiae sacellum. Tertia est Janualis dicta ab Jano; et ideo ibi positum Jani signum ; et jus institutum a Pompilio, ut scribit in Annalibus Piso, ut sit aperta semper, nisi quom helium sit nusquam." (i. L. v. §§ 164, 165, Miill.) The gate here called Mucio by VaiTo is the same as that called Slugio by other writers, by an ordinary interchange of c and g, as in Caius for Gaius, Cermalus for Germalus, &c. Thus Varro him- self, as cited by Nonius (xii. 51. p. 531, m.) is made to call it Mugio. In Paulus Diaconus (p. 144, Miill.) we find the adjective form Mugionia, erroneously formed, however, from Mugius, the name of a man; and lastly, the form Mugonia in Solinus (i. 24). The most important passage for deteiTriinins the situation of this gate is Livy's description (i. 12) of the battle between the Sabines and Romans. The former occupy the Capitoline hill, the latter are ar- rayed in the valley beneath. The Romans mount to the attack, but are repulsed and driven back towards the " old gate " ("ad veterem portam") of the Palatium. Romulus, who is stationed on the high ground near it (the summit of the Velia), vows to erect on this spot a temple to Jupiter, under the n.ame of " Stator," if he arrest the flight of the Romans. At this time the Sabines had driven back the Romans to the extremity of what was after- wards the forum, and their leader Jletius Curtius had even penetrated nearly to the gate of the Pala- tium. The Romans, however, rally; the Sabines are repulsed, and the combat is renevv'cd in the valley between the two hills. Dionysius confirms the site of the gate by describing it as leading to the Palatium from the Summa Sacra Via; which street, as will be seen when we come to describe the topography of the later city, crossed the ridge of the Velia at this spot ('Pw/xvAos jxiv 'Opdccaici) Aii (iepuv [Spvrraro) irapa. Tats KaKovjXivdls MvKoovta'i TTvAats, ai (pepovaiv els rh TlaAdTiov e/c ttjs Upas oSov, ii. 50). The spot is further identified by a graphic passage in Ovid, where the citizen who serves as Cicerone to his book conducts it from the fora of the Caesars along the Sacra Via, and, having crossed the eastern extremity of the Forum Ro- manum, arrives at the temple of Vesta; then pro- ceeding onwards up the Sacra Via, first points out the former residence of Numa, and then, turning to the right, indicates the gate of the palace: — " Paruit et ducens, ' Haec sunt fora Caesaris, inqnit; Ilaec est a sacris quae via nomen habet. Hie locus est Vestae, qui Pallada servat et ignem ; Hie fuit antiqui regia parva Numae.' Inde peteiis dextram, ' Porta est, ait, ista PalatI: Hie Stator; hoc primum condita Roma loco est.'" (rmi. iii. 1. 27.) The site of the temple of Jupiter Stator here given is confirmed by other writers. Thus it is described by Livy (i. 41) as near tiie palace of Tarquinius Pri.scus, from the windows of which, overhanging the Nova Via, Tana(iuil addresscil the people. Now. as will be shown in its proper jilace, the Nova 'ia ran for some distance parallel with the Sacra Via, and between it and the Palatine, and, at its highest point near this gate, was called " Summa," like the Sacra Via. Thus Solinus (i. 24): "Tarquinius I'riscus ad Mugoniam Portam supra Sunnnani 3 A 4