Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/772

 752 EOMA. so called, but a mere triumphal arch situated in the Campus Martius. The theory of Bunsen necessarily rests on the assumption of a different line of wall from that laid down in the preceding account; and as another line is also adopted by Niebuhr (^Hist. i. p. 397, Ethnoijr. ii. p. 49), it will be necessary to examine this point before proceeding to the question of the gate. Niebuhr and Bunsen are, however, far from coinciding. The line drawn by the former proceeds along the banks of the river; that drawn by the latter runs from the Porta Carmentalis to the N. angle of the Circus Maximus, and, adopt- ing the NW. front of the circns, or what was called the Oppidum, as part of the line, pro- ceeds onwards to the Aventine, thus shutting the greater part of the Forum Boarium out of the city. Both these theories, however, agree in so far as they assume an enceinte continue, or continued line of wall; and theiefore, if this notion can be shown to be false, both fall to the ground. Now it can be proved on the very best evidence that there was no ■wall in this part of the city, which was defended solely by the Tiber. We have already adduced a passage from Dionysius in confirmation of this statement; and the same author in another passage repeats the same thing in so plain a manner that there can be no reasonable doubt of the fact : fSfrjcrev rj ■k6is dwvaL kclto, Kpdros drsixifTos oZaa. (K Twu wapa rhv iroTafihy fxtpuv (v. 23). But Dionysius does not stand alone. We have Livy also as a voucher for the same fact, who, in narrating the enterprise of Porsena against Kome, observes that the citizens regarded some parts of their city as secured by the wall, and other parts by the Tiber : " Alia muris, alia Tiberi objecto videbantur tuta" (ii. 10). The same fact appears, though not in so direct a manner, from the same author's ac- count of the procession of the virgins from the temple of Apollo, outside the Carmental gate, to that of Juno Eegina on the Aventine, to which we have before briefly alluded. The route is described as follows : " A porta (Carmentali) Jugario vico in forum venere. Inde vico Tusco Velabroipe per Boarium forum in clivum Publicium atque aedem Junonis Eeginae perrectum" (xxvii. 37). Now the small space allotted by Bunsen to the Forum Boa- rium must have been inside of the wall, since the temples of Fortune and Mater Matuta, which stood upon it (Liv. xxxiii. 27), were within the Porta Carmentalis (Id. xxv. 7). The procession, then, after passing through that forum, must have gone out of the city at another gate, — Bunsen's Flumen- tana, — and have entered it again by the Trigemina, before it could reach the Clivus Publicius, — facts which are not mentioned by Livy in his very precise description of the route. Having thus shown on the best evidence that no wall existed at this point, it would be a mere waste of time to refute arguments intended to show that it possibly might have existed, — such as whether a wall with a gate would keep out an inundation, whether the Fabii went over the Sublician bridge, and others of the like sort, which would have puz- zled an ancient haruspex. We will therefore pro- ceed to examine Becker's hypothesis, that the Porta Triumphalis was, in fact, no gate at all, but merely an arch in the Campus Martius, a theory which is also adopted, though with some little variation, by Preller (Regimen, p. 162, and Anhang, p. 239). Becker ])laces this arch at the spot where the Campus Martius joins the Kegio called Circus ROMA. Flaminius, and takes it to be the same that was re- built by Domitian (of course he must mean rdndlt, though it is not very clearly expressed. De Muris, p. 92, Handb. p. 153). His conjecture is founded on the following lines in a poem of Martial's (viii. 65) in which he describes the erection of this arch and of some other buildings near it: — " Haec est digna tuis, Germanice, porta triumphis, Hos aditus urbem Martis habere decet." Becker, however, is totally, unable to prove that this arch and the temple of Fortuna Redux near it were even in the Campus Martius at all. Thus he says (Eandh. p. 642): "It is not indeed expressly said that the Ara of Fortuna Redux was in the Campus Martius; but it becomes probable from the circum- stance that Domitian built here, and, as we have conjectured at p. 1 53, close to the Porta Triumphalis, a temple to the same goddess." The argument then proceeds as follows : " We know from Martial that Domitian built a temple to Fortuna Redux where her altar formerly stood, and also a triumphal - arch near it. We do not know that this altar was in the Campus Martius; but it is probable that it was, because Domitian built this temple close to it, and also close to the arch, which, as / conjectured, was the Porta Triumphalis ! " There is, however, another passage of Martial, either overlooked or ignored by Becker, which tends very strongly to show that this arch of Domitian's really was in the Campus Martius, but at quite a different spot from that so conveniently fixed upon by him. It is the following (x. 6) : — " Felices quibus urna dedit spectare coruscum Solibus Arctois sideribusque ducem. Quando erit ille dies quo Campus et arbor et omnis Lucebit Latia culta fenestra nuru ? Quando morae dulces, longusque a Caesare pulvis, Totaque Flaminia Roma videnda via ? " There can be no doubt that these lines refer to the same triumphal entry of Domitian's as those quoted by Becker; and they pretty plainly show, as Ca- nina, without any view to the present question, justly observes (fndicazione, cj-c. p. 437), that the arch and other monuments stood on the Via Flami- nia, and therefore at a very considerable distance from the spot assigned to them by Becker. This arch having broken down, Preller comes to the rescue, and places the Porta Tiiumphalis near the Villa Publica and temple of Bellona, close to the Via Lata. For this site he adduces several plausible arguments : near the temple of Bellona was the piece of ager hostilis, where the Fetiales went through the formalities of declaring war ; as well as the Columna Bellica, whence a lance was thrown when the army was going to take the field ; also a Senaculum " citra aedem Bel- lonae," in which audience was given to foreign ambassadors whom the senate did not choose to admit into the city. The Villa Publica also seiTed for the reception of the latter, and probably also of Roman generals before their triumph, and of all who, being cum imperio, could not cross the pomoerium, and therefore in the ordinary course took up their abode there. After this ceased to exist, the Diri- bitorium was used in its stead, in which Claudius passed some nights, and in which probably Ves- l pasian and Titus slept before their triumph. This