Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/802

 782 ro:ma. tiou, over the tliree columns, Becker rrc'arJs the (.rtler of the Notitia as fully confirmed, and tl:e three temples to be respectively those of Concord, Ves- pasian and Titus, and Saturn. With regard to these inscriptions all are agreed that the third. ;is here divided, belongs to the temple r)f Concord; but with regard to the proper division of the first two, there is great difference of opinion. Bunsen and Becker divide them as above, but Canina {Foro Rom. p. 179) contends that the first finislies at the word " restituit," and that the words from " Divo A^'espasiano " down to " restitue- runt " form the second inscription, belonging to the temjjle of Vespasian and Titus. In the original code.K containing the inscriptions, which is in the library of Einsiedlen, they are written consecutively, without any mark where one begins and another ends; so that the divisions in subsequent copies are merely arbitrary and without any authority. Now it may be observed that the first inscription, as di- vided by Canina, may still be read on the architrave of the eight columns, which it exactly fills, leaving no space for any more words. Becker attempts to evade this difficulty by the following assertion: " There is no room," he says (^Handb. p. 357), " for the de- dication ' Divo Vespasiano,' on the front of the temple; and although it is unusual for one half of an inscription to be placed on the back, yet on this occasion the situation of the temple excuses it ! " We are of opinion, then, that the whole of the words after " restituit " down to the beginning of the inscription on the temple of Concord, belong to the temple of Vespasian, or that of which three columns .still remain. Another proof that the words " Divo Vespasiano Augusto " could never h.ave existed over the temple with the eight columns is that Poggio (c?e Variet. Fort. p. 12), in whose time the build- ing was almost entire, took it to be the temple of Concord, which he could not have done had the de- dication to Vespasian belonged to it. (Buidjury, in Class. iMus. iv. p. 27, note.) Thus two out of Becker's three arguments break down, and all that lie has to adduce against the mass of evidence, from the best classical authorities, on the other side, is a stiff and pedantic interjjretation of the preposition ywA'^t in such a writer as Servius ! Thus it is Becker himself who is amenable to his own ciiarge of shutting his eyes against historical evi- dence. His attempt to separate the altar from the temple (^Handb. p. 3 13), at least in locality, is equally unfortunate. TIJ.-nrLE OF SATL'KN. KOJIA. The remains of the temple of Saturn, or the "jor- tieo with the eight columns at the head of the forum, are in a rude and barbarous style of art, some of the columns being larger in diameter than others. Hence Canina infers that the restoration was a very late one, and probably subsequent to the removal of the seat of empire to Constantinople. From the most ancient times the temple of Saturn served as an aerarium, or state treasury, where the public money, the mili- tary ensigns, and important documents were pre- served (Liv. iii. 69; Plut. Q. R. 42; Macrob. i. 8; Solin. i. 12, &c.). On account of its Grecian origin sacrifices were performed at the altar of Saturn after the Greek rite, that is, capite aperto, instead of capite velato as among the Romans (Macrob. /. c). Adjoining the temple of Saturn w^as a small cella or Aeues of Ops, which served as a bank for the public money. The Fasti Amiternini and Caprani- corum mention it as being " ad Forum," and " in Vico Jngario," which determines its position here (^Calend. Amit.Dec; Cal. Capran. Aug."). It is several times alluded to by Cicero : " Pecunia utinam ad Opis maneret" (^Phil. i. 7, cf. ii. 14). Before the temple stood a statue of Silvanus and a sacred fig-tree, which it was necessary to remove in b. c. 493, as its roots began to upset the statue (Plin. XV. 20). Behind the temple, in a small lane or Angiportus, ;iiid about midway up the ascent of the clivus, was the Pokta Stercoraeia, leading to a ijlace where the ordure from the temple of Vesta was deposited on the 15th of June every year. (Van-. L. L. vi. § 32, Miill.; Festus, p. 344') This custom seems to have been connected with the epithet of Stercutus applied to Saturn by the Romans, as the inventor of applying manure to the fields (Macrob. Sat. i. 7.) Close to the Ara Saturni there was a Sackllum Dri'is, in which wax masks were sus- pended during the Saturnalia. (/J. 11.) But the most important alteration made by Tar- quinius Priscus with regard to the forum was the causing of porticoes and shops to be erected around it (Liv. i. 35; Dionys. iii. 67). This gave the forum a fixed and unalterable shape. We may wonder at the smallness of its area when we reflect that this was the great centre of politics and business for the mistress of the world. But we must recollect that its bounds were thus fixed when she herself was not yet secure against the attempts of surrounding nations. As her power and population gradually increased various means were adopted for procuring more accommodation — first, by the erection of spacious basilicae, and at last, in the imperial times, by the construction of several new fora. But at first, the structures that arose upon the forum were rather of a useful than ornamental kind ; and the tabernae of Tarqnin consisted of butchers' shops, schools, and other places of a like description, as we learn from the story of Virginia. These Ta- HEKNAE were distinguished by the names of Veteres and Novae, whence it seems probable that only the former were erected in the time of Tarquin. The two sides of the forum, lengthways, derived their names from them, one being called sub Veteribus, the other .tub Novis. A passage in Cicero, where he compares these tabernae with the old and new- Academy, en- ables us to determine their respective sites: " Ut ii, qui sub Xovis solem non ferunt, item ille cum acstu- aret, veterum, ut Maenianorum, sic Academicorum umbram secutus est" (^Acad. iv. 22). Hence it appc.'irs that the Novae, being exposed to the sun, must h.ave been on the northern side of the forum,