Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/812

 792 ROMA. bclore cited, whose test is not to be capriciously meddled with by reading;, -ri T€ ^AOrivaiuu rh Kod XahKi^iKhv aiuo/j-aajxivop, in order to prop a theor}' which cinnot support itself. We need not, there- fore, enter further into this view. That of Becker (Handb. p. 335) seems probable enoui;h, that the Chalcidicum usurped the place of the senacuUim of the curia, though we should be more inclined to say that of the Graecostasis, as the position of the latter seems at all events to have been shifted about this period. We learn from Pliny (xxxiii. 6) that in his time it no longer stood " supra Comi- tium." Yet such a place seems to liave existed to the latest period, and is mentioned in the Notilia (Regio viii.) under the altered name of Graeco- stadium, close to the Basilica Julia, though the MSS. vary with regard to the position. It bad probably, therefore, been removed before the time of Pliny to the south side of the forum, and perhaps at the time when the new curia and Chalcidicum were built. If this was so, it would tend to prove that the comitium did not extend across the whole breadth of the forum. The Atrium Minei-vae of the Notitia must have been of a later period. Another change in the disposition of the forum, with reference to the politics of the times, which was actually carried out by Caesar in his lifetime, was the removal of the ancient rostra. The co- mitium, which may be called the aristocratic part of the forum, had become in a great measure de- serted. The popular business was now transacted at the lower end of the forum ; and Caesar, who courted the mob, encouraged this arrangement. The steps of the temple of Castor had been converted into a sort of extempore rostra, whence the dema- gogues harangued the people, and Caesar himself had sometimes held forth from them. (Dion Cass. xxxviii. 6 ; cf. Cic.^>. is time, which was the Julia; and this shows that it stood on the ancient site of the Hostilia. Another proof that the rostra were moved in Caesar's life- time may be derived from Livy {Epit. cxvi.) ; " Caesaris corpus a plebe ante Rostra crematum est." For, as Appian (£. C. ii. 148) indicates the place in another manner, and says that the burning of the body took place before the Regia, it is plain that the rostra mentioned in the Epitome ]i&t cited must have been very near the Regia. But wc have seen that the ancient rustra were on the comitium, at the other end of the forum. There are other passages from which we may arrive at the exact situation of the new rostra. Thus Suetonitis, in his account of the funeral of Augustus, says that a panegyric was pronounced upon him by Drusus from the rostra under the Tabernae Veteres (" pro Rostris .sub Veteribus," Aug. 100; cf. Dion Cass. Ivi. 34). It should be stated, however, that the common reading of this passage is " pro Rostris veteribus," that is, from the old rostra on the comitium; and we shall see further on that the old rostra appear to liave existed after the erection of the new. It is not, however, probable that they would be used on this occasion, even if they were ever used at all ; and we see from Dion Cassius's account of the ROMA. funeral of Octavia, the sister of Augustus, that Drusus also on that occasion pronounced a pane- gyric from the new rostra, or those commonly used, as we must conclude from Dion"s mentioning them without any distinctive -epithet (eVl tov ySi^juaros). Canina (^Foro Rom. p. 1"J9) adopted the common reading, with the omission of stib, because he ima- gined that " sub Veteribus " must mean " under some old building," instead of its being a designation for the S. side of the fonim. And Cicero, when pronouncing one of his invectives against Antony from the rostra, bids his audience look to the left at the gilt equestrian statue of Antony, which, as appears from what Cicero says a little further on, stood before the temple of Castor. (^Phil. vi. 5.) From a comparison of all these passages we may state with precision that the new rostra were esta- blished by Caesar on the SE. side of the forum, between the temple of Castor and the Regia, a spot which, as we have said, had previously become tlio regular place for the contiones. But, as this spot was on Becker's comitium, — his lower end of the forum being our upper end, — he could not of course admit that this was the place on which the new rcstra were erected, and he is therefore obliged to place them a great deal higher up towards the Capitol, and to the W. of the temple of Castor. As, how- ever, in questions of this sort, one error always begets another, he is thus puzzled to account for the circumstance how Cicero, speaking from these rostra, could allude to the statue of Antony as being on his left {Handb. p. 337); and, in order to avoid this contradiction, asserts that Dion Cas- sius was mistaken, in saying that the rostra were removed in Caesar's lifetime. It must be the old rostra, those on the (his) comitium, before which Caesar's body was burnt, and then everything goes right. Unfortunately, however, the testimony of Dion is confirmed by the expressive silence of the Monuvientum Ancyranum. That record, in which Augustus so ostentatiously recites his build- ings, his repairs, and his alterations, says not a word about the rostra. We have seen a little while ago that Becker contradicts Dion respecting the Curia Julia, and now he contradicts both that author and the Momimentum Anci/ranum, and solely be- cause he has adopted a wrong site for his comitium. How sliall we characterise a topographical system which .It every turn comes into collision with the best authorities ? On the other hand, if there is any truth in the system we have adopted, all the merit we can claim for it is derived from paying due respect to these authorities, and implicitly fol- lowing what they say, without presuming to set our own opinion above their teaching. Before we quit this subject it may be as well to say that, though these new rostra of Caesar's became the ordinary sug- gestum, or platform, for the orators, yet the old ones do not appear to have been demolished. We have before seen, from a passage in Trebellius PoUio, that the old rostra ad Falmam, or near the arch of Severus, existed in the time of Claudius II. ; and the Notitia and Curiosum expressly mention three rostra on the forum. In a bas-relief on the arch of Constantine Canina has correctly recognised a representation of this part of the forum, with the buildings on the Cli'U3 Capitolinus. Constantine is seen addressing the people from a raised platfonn or suggestum, provided with a balustrade, which is undoubtedly intended for the ancient rostra. Canina is further of nninirvn