Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/819

 ROMA. takinj^ of Falisci, or rather Falerii, and the erection of a Janus Quadrifrons on the Forum Transitorinm, which (lid not exist till many centuries afterwards ? Livj also indicates the Janus-temple of Numa as being in the Argiletum (" Janum ad infimum Ar- giletum indiceni pacis bellique fecit," i. 19); whence we must conclude that it was a district lying on the N. side of the forum. We do not think, however, with Becker {Handb. p. 261), that any proof can be drawn from the words of Virgil {Aen. viii. 345, seq.), where, with a poetical license, the various places are evidently mentioned without regard to their order. But how far the district called Argiletum may have been encroached upon by the imperial fora it is impossible to say. The forum of Caesar must have been veiy splendid. Before the temple of Venus stood a statue of the celebrated horse which would suffer nobody but Caesar to mount him, and whose fure-feet are said to have resembled those of a human being (Suet. Cues. 61; Plin. viii. 64). The temple was adorned with pictures by the best Greek artists, and enriched with many precious offerings (Plin. vii. 38, ix. 57, xxxvii. 5, &c.). It was one of the three fora devoted to legal business, the other two being the Forum Romanum and Augusti; — " Causas, inquis, agam Cicerone disertius ipso Atque erit in triplici par mihi nemo foro." (Mart. iii. 38. 2.) Whether it was ever used for assemblies of the senate seems doubtful; at all events the passage cited by Becker (^Handb. p. 369) from Tacitus (^Ann. xvi. 27) proves nothing, as the word curia there seems to point to the Curia Julia. Of the subsequent history of the Forum Caesaris but little is known. It appears to have escaped the fire of Nero; but it is mentioned among the buildings restored by Diocletian after the fire under Carinus (" Opera publica arse- runt Senatum, Forum, Caesaris patrimonium, Basi- lieam Juliam et Graecostadium, Catal. Imp. Vienn. where, according to Preller, Reg. p. 143, we must read " Forum Caesaris, Atrium Minervae.") It is mentioned in the Ordo Ronianus, in the year 1143, but may then have been a ruin. Forum Awjttsti. — This forum was constructed for the express purpose of affording more accommodation for judicial business, which had now increased to such an extent that the Forum Romanum and Foram Julium did not suffice for it. It included in its area a Temple of Maks Ultor, vowed by Augustus in the civil war which he had undertaken to avenge his father's death: — " Jlars ades, et satia scelerato sanguine ferrum, Stctque favor causa pro meliore tuus. Tompki feres, et, me victore, vocaberis Ultor. Voverat, et fuso laetus ah hoste redit." (Ov. Fast. V. 575, seq.) This temple was appointed to be the place where the senate should consult about wars and triumphs, where provinces cum imperio should be conferred, and where victorious generals should deposit the in- signia of their triumphs (Suet. Aug. 29). The forum was constructed on a smaller scale than Augustus had intended, because he could not obtain the consent of some neighbouring householders to part with their jjioperty {lb. 56). It was opened for business before the tem])Ie was finished, which was dedicated B. c. 1 (//<. 29; Veil Pat. ii. 100). The forum ex- tended on each side of the temple in a semicircular ROMA. 799 shape (Palladio, Archit. iv.), with porticoes, in which Augustus erected the statues of the most eminent Roman generals. On each side of the temple were subsequently erected triumphal arches in honour of Germanicus and Drusus, with their statues (Tac. Ann. ii. 64). The temple is said to have been very splendid (Plin. xxxvi. 54), and was adorned, as well as the foram, with many works of art {lb. vii. 53, xxxiv. 18, xxxv. 10; Ov. Fast. v. 555, &c.). The Salii were accustomed to banquet here ; and an anecdote is recorded of the emperor Claudius, that once when he was sitting in judgment in this forum, he was so attracted by the savoury odour of the dinner preparing for these priests, that he quitted the tribunal and joined their party. (Suet. Claud. 33.) This anecdote has partly served to identify the site of the temple, an inscription having been discovered on one of the remaining walls in which the Salii and their Mansiones are mentioned (Canina, Foro Rom. p. 150). The remains of three of the columns, with their entablature, of the temple of jlars Ultor are still to be seen near the place called the Arco de' Pantani. It must therefore have adjoined the back of the Forum Caesaris. These three columns, which are tall and handsome, are of the Corinthian order. All we know respecting the history of the Forum Augusti is that it was restored by Hadrian (Spart. Hadr. 19). The church of 5. Ba.nlio was probably built on the site of the temple {Ordo Rom. 1143; Mabill. Mus. Ital. ii. p. 143). TEMPLE OF MARS ULTOR. Forum Traiisitorium or Forum Nervae. — This forum was begun by Domitian, but completed and dedicated by Nerva (Suet. Dom. 5 ; Aur. Vict. Caes. 12). We have said that Domitian had a particular predilection for Minerva, and he founded a large Aedes Minervae in this forum (" Dedicato prius foro, quod appellalur Pervium, quo aedes Jlinervae eminentior consurgit et magnificentior," A. Vict. lb.). From this circumstance it was also called Forum Palladium ("Limina post Pacis Palladiumque forum," Mart. i. 2. 8); besides which it also had the name of Pervium or Transitorinm, apparently because it was traversed by a street which cormected the N. and S. sides of the city, wdiich was not the case with the other fora (Niebuhr, in the Desc/zrcibimg Roms, iii. p. 282). ThusLampridius (Akx. Sei'.28): " In foro Divi Nervae, quod Transitorium dicitur;" and Aurelius Victor in the passage just cited. From the line of Martial's before quoted, it appears to havo adjoined the temple of Peace, erected by Vespasian, which we shall have occasion to describe in another section. There appears to have stood upon it a temple, or rather perhaps fourfold archway of .Tanus Quadrifrons, probably somewhat resembling that which still exists near 5. Georgia in Velabro, con- necting the rciads which led to the four different forums, namely, the Forum Romanum, Forum Cae- saris, Forum Nervae, and Forum Pacis, as Vespasian s temi<le of Peace was sometimes called. The passage