Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/774

 754 ROMA. (Liv. xlv. 39), thus establishing the identity of the gate to at least that period. But to return to Becker's explanation of the passage of Josephus. Admitting Plutarch's account of the triumphs of PauUus and Lucullus, namely, that they passed through the Circus Flaminius, yet what does this prove? how is it connected with the Porta Triumphalis ? Those generals may have marshalled their processions in the Campus and passed through the Circus Flaminius in their way to the Porta Triumphalis. The procession would have been equally visible in the Circus as in the streets of Rome, just as the Lord JIayor's show may, or might, be seen at Westminster as well as in the city. It is possible indeed that in the case of Ves- pasian there was no procession till he arrived at the gate; but it does not necessarily follow that the same line was always precisely observed. In truth we may perceive a difference between the expressions of Josephus and those of Plutarch.^ The former says that Vespasian went Sia twu ^sdrpccv ; whilst Plutarch says, of Paullus, that the people assembled ev Tols ItnTiKO^s S>(drpois, & KipKOVS KaKovaiv; nf Lucullus, that he adorned rhv ^Xafxiveiov lTnr6- Spofxov. Here the circi are precisely designated as hippodromes ; but Josephus uses the general term Siiarpoov, which may include theatres of all kinds. Now we will susgost a more probable route than that given by Becker, according to which the pa- geant must have crossed the forum twice. After coming out at the further end of the circus, Ves- pasian turned down to the left, between the Palatine and Caelian, the modern Via dl S. Gregorio. This would bring him out opposite his own magnificent amphitlieatre, the Colosseum, then in course of con- struction. Even if it had not risen much above its foundations, still its ample area by means of scaffold- ings, would have accommodated a vast number of spectators ; and as to Vespasian personally, it would have imparted no small relish to his triumph to pass through so magnificent a work of his own creation. Hence his road lay plain and direct over the Summa Sacra Via to the forum and Capitol. Now, taking all these things into consideration, we will venture to suggest a very slight change in the text of Josephus, a change not so great as some of those often proposed by Becker upon much smaller occasions, and which will release us from a great deal of perplexity. The alteration is that of an N into a n, a very slight one in the uncial cha- racter; and, by reading kinx'^P^'- for ar'exwpsi, we would make Vespasian depart from the Porticus Octaviae towards the gate which had always been used for triumphs, instead of retracing his steps towards one of which nobody can give any account. But whatever may be thought of the individual case of Vespasian, still we hold it to be incontestable that the ancient Porta Triumphalis, against which the sole objection seems to be that it was near two other gates, is to be sought in that part of the Servian wall between the P. Carmentalis and the P. Flumentana. The objection just alluded to would indeed have some force, if we could assume, with Becker (Hartdb. p. 154), that the Porta Triumphalis, just like an ordinary one, lay always open for com- mon traffic. But it is surprising how anybody could come to that conclusion after reading the passages which Becker has himself cited from Suetonius, Tacitus, and Dion C.assius, or that in Cicero's ora- tion against Piso before quoted. The first of these authors relates that after the death of Augustus ROMA. the senate voted, or proposed to vote, that, as an extraordinary mark of honour, his funeral should pass through the triumphal gate, preceded by the statue of Victory which stood in the curia : " Ut censuerint quidam funus triumphali porta ducendum, praecedente Victoria, quae est in Curia" {At/ff. 100; cf. Tac. Ann. i. 8); and Dion says (Ivi. 42) that this was actually done, and the body burned in the Campus Martins. Now if the Porta Trium- phalis had been an ordinary gate and common thoroughfiire, what honour would there have been in passing through it? or how should the spectator have discovered that any distinction had been con- ferred? Wherefore Preller (Regioneti, p. 240) has rightly come to the conclusion that it was usually kept shut. Between tlie Capitoline and the Aventine, along the banks of the river, the wall, as we have shown, was discontinued, but it was recommenced at the apot where the latter hill approaches the Tiber. This may be shown from the well-ascertained po- sition of the Porta Trigemina, which, as we learn from a passage in Frontinus, lay j ust under the Clivus Publicius, at the northernmost point of the hill (" in- cipit distribui Appia (aqua) imo Publicio Clivo ad Portam Trigeminam," Aq. 3); and the Clivus Pub- licius, as we know from a passage in Livy respecting the procession of the virgins before alluded to, formed the ascent to the Aventine from the Forum Boarium (" inde vico Tusco Velabroque per Boarium forum in clivum Publicium atque aedem Junonis Reginae perrectum," xsvii. 37). There are some difficulties connected with the question of this gate, from its being mentioned in conjunction with the Pons Sub- licius ; but there will be occasion to discuss the situation of that bridge in a separate section ; and we shall only remark here that the narratives alluded to seem to show that it was at no great distance from the gate. It is probable that the latter derived its name from its having three Jani or arch- ways. A little beyond the Porta Trigemina most topo- graphers have placed a Porta Navali.s, which is mentioned only once, namely, by P. Diaconus in the following passage : " Navalis Porta a vicinia Na- valium dicta" (p. 179, Miill.), where we are told that it derived its name from the vicinity of the government dockyards. It has been assumed that these docks lay to the S. of the Aventine, in the plain where Monte Testaccio stands; but Becker has the merit of having shown, as will appear in Its proper place, that they were in the Campus Martins. There was, however, a kind of emporium or mer- chant dock, between the Aventine and Tiber, and, as this must have occasioned considerable traffic, it is probable that there was a gate leading to it some- where on the W. side of the hill, pei-haps near the Priorato, where there seems to have been an ascent, but whether it was called Porta Navalis it is im- possible to say. The writer of this article is informed by a gentleman well acquainted with the subject, that traces of the Servian wall have very recently been discovered at the NW. side of the Aventine, below S. Sahina and S. Alessio. The line of wall from this point to the Caelian hill cannot be determined with any certainty. Round the Aventine itself it doubtless followed the configuration of the hill; but its course from the S. point of the Aventine has been variously laid down. Hence the question arises whether it included the nameless height on which the churches of S. Sabina