Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/801

 RO.MA. (j' Habet aram et ante senatulum," i. 8). This must have been near the senaculum of the Curia Hostilia, but could hardly have been the same. If Macrobius is right, then Festus is wrong in limiting the sena- cula to three; and it does not seem improbable that the areae near temples, where the senate was ac- customed to meet, may have been called senacula. To Ancus Marcius we can only ascribe the Car- CER JLvMERTLNUs, Or prison described by Livy as overhanging the forum (" media urbe, imminens foro," i. 33). It is still to be seen rear the arch of Severus, under the church of S. Giuseppe del Fa- legimmi. We have before remarked that a new architectural era began at Eome with the reign of Tarquinius Priscus ; and if he had not been internipted by wars, be would doubtless have carried out many of those grand schemes which he was destined only to pro- ject. He may almost be called the founder of the foniro, since it was he who first surrounded it with private houses and shops. According to Varro (ap. Macrob. § i. 8), he also founded the Temple of Saturn on the fomm at the spot where the altar stood; though, according to another account, it was begun by Tullus Hostilius. At all events, it does not seem to have been dedicated before the expul- sion of the kings (Macrob. I. c), and according to Livy (ii. 21), in the consulship of Sempronius and Minncius, b. c. 497. According to Becker {Handb. p. 312) the ruin of the three columns under the Capitol are remains of it, and this, he asserts, is a most decided certainty, which can be denied only by persons who prefer their own opinion to historical sources, or wilfully shut their eyes. It appears to us, however, judging from these very historical sources, that there is a great deal more authority for the Italian view than for Becker's; according to which the temple of Saturn is the ruin of the eight columns, at the foot of the clivus. All the writers who speak of it mention it as being at the lower part of the hill, and beneath the clivus, while the three columns are a good way up, and above the clivus. Thus Servius {Aen. ii. 115, viii. 319) says that the temple of Saturn was " ante clivum Capitolini ; " and in the Origo gentis Romanae (c. 3) it is said to be " sub clivo Capitolino." In like manner Varro {L. L. v. § 42, Miill.) places it " 'n faucibus (montis Saturni);" and Dionysius, ircpa Tp pi^Tj ToO Xotpov, Kara t))v &vo'5ov 'ti]v i;OMA 781 airh r7)S ay opiis (pepovaav els rh KaTriTU)top (i.34), Festus (p. 322, Miill.) describes the ara as having been " in imo clivo Capitolino." Moreover, the miharium aureum, which stood at the top of the foram (Plin. iii. 9) was under the temple of Saturn : " ad miliarium aureum, sub aedem Saturni" (Tac.//. i. 27); ''sub aedem Saturni, ad miliarium aureum " (Suet. Otho. c. 6.) Further, the Monumentwn Anajramim mentions the Basilica Julia as " inter aedem Castoris et aedem Saturni." Now what has Becker got to oppose to this overwhelming mass of the very best evidence ? His objections are, first, that Servius (^Aen. ii. 116) mentions the temple of Saturn as being "juxta Concordiae templum ; " and though the eight columns are near the temple of Concord, yet they cannot, without awkwardness, be called jMxto.' Secondly, the Notitia, proceeding from the Career Mamertinus, names the temples in the following order: Templum Concordiae et Saturni et Vespasiani et Titi. Now, as the three columns are next to the temple of Concord, it follows that they belong to the temple of Saturn. The whole force of the proof here adduced rests on the assump- tion that the Notitia mentions these buildings precisely in the order in which they actually oc- curred. But it is notorious that the authority of the Notitia in this respect cannot be at all de- pended on, and that objects are named in it in the most preposterous manner. We need no other witness to this fact than Becker himself, who says of this work, " Propterea cavendum est diligenter, ne, quoties plura simul templa nominantur, eodem ea ordine juncta fuisse arbitremur." (Z>e Mw-is, &c., p. 12, note.) But thirdly, Becker proceeds: " This argument obtains greater certainty from the inscriptions collected by the Anonymous of Ein- siedlen. Fortunately, the entire inscriptions of all the three temples are preseiTed, which may be still partly read on the ruins. They run as follows: ' Senatus popnlusque Eomanus incendio consumptum restituit Divo Vespasiano Augusto||. s. p. q. r. impp. Caess. Severus et Antoninus pii felic Aug. restitue- runt.||s.p.Q.R. aedem Concordiae vetustate coUapsam in meliorem faciem opera et cultu splendidiore re- stituerunt." Now as the whole of the first inscrip- tion, with the exception of the last three words, " Divo Vespasiano Augusto," are still to be read over the eight columns, and the letters estitvek, a fragment of " restituerunt " in the second inscrip- TAEULAUIUM AND TEMPLES OF VESPASIAN, SATtlUM AND CONCORD,