Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/823

 ROJIA. name of the place alluded to was Fulcrum Littus than Pidcra Rupes (though unfortunately we do not find it mentioned in any Latin author), and that, like the Casa Romuli and Lupercal, it was a traditionary name, as old as the stoiy of Romulus and Remus itself. According to that story, we must recollect that the Tiber had overflowed its banks and formed a lake here, and that the cradle was washed ashore at the foot of the Palatine; whence the name littus, which is frequently used of the shores of a lake, might without impropriety be applied to this spot. Tiie PaOfjioi or steps mentioned by Plutarch in the preceding passage were of course a m.ore recent work, but their date cannot be fixed. Propertius (v. 1. 9) seems to allude to them in the following passage as existing even in the time of Romulus and Remus: — " Qua gradibus domus ista Remi se sustulit olim Unus erat fratrum maxima regna focus." But though we can hardly imagine their existence at that time, yet the passage at all events suffices to prove the existence of the steps in the time of Augustus. Becker, however, will by no means al- low this. {Handb. p. 420 and note.) Plutarch goes on to say that in the neighbourhood of the Casa Romuli stood the cherry-tree said to have sprung from the lance hurled by Romulus from the Aventine to the Palatine; and that the tree withered and died from the roots having been injured when Caius Caesar (Caligula) caused the steps to be made there. (Td'iov 5e KaiVapoj, (lis (pacri, toj ava§a,<TfiS (niaKeud^ovTos koI twu Texvirwv Trepto- pvTTovrwv TO. Tr]aiov, ea9ov al pif"' KaKwde^crai iravTOLTraai, Kol rh (pvThv ijJ.apdvdT].') Hence Becker draws the conclusion that this was the origin of the steps, and that they did not exist before the time of Caligula. But this is by no means a neces- sary consequence from Plutarch's words, since «7ri- <TKivd(ai often signifies to repair or make better. We find the same steps mentioned by Solinus under the name of Scalae Caci : " Ad supercilium scalarum Caci habet terminum (Roma Quadrate), ubi tu- gurium fuit Faustuli. Ibi Romulus mansitavit," &c. (i. 18). It cannot be doubted that these are the same steps mentioned by Propertius and Plutarch. Ger- hard proposed to emendXhxs passage by reading Caii for Caci ; an emendation of which Becker of course approved, as it suits his view that the steps did not exist before the time of Caligula. But unfortunately he was not aware of a passage in Diodorus Siculus which also mentions these steps in a manner con- firmatory of the account of Solinus and Propertius : TuD Se KoKi'ou iv T(j) riaAaTio; KUTa§aais iffTiv eXu'^o''* Aifiicrji' KXifxaKa rrjv ovoixa^o(i.iv7)v ott' iKiivov KoiKiav (iv. 21). And as Diodorus wrote in the age of Augustus, the existence of the steps before the time of Caligula is thus proved. An Aedes Romuli is also mentioned on the Ger- maUis in the sacred books of the Argives quoted by Yarro (L. L. v. § 54, Miill.); but it is not found in any other author, and hence it may appear doubtful whether it is not the same as the Casa Romuli. The round church of S. Teodoro on the W. side of the Palatine has frequently been identified with tills Aedes Romuli, and it is very probable that it was built over the remains of some ancient temple; but it is too far from the circus to have been the Casa Romuli, which lay more towards S. Anastasia. Besides the Casa seems to have been nothing more than a little thatched hut ; of which, as we have EOMA. 803 seen, there appears to have been a duplicate on the Capitol. In the dearth of any more accurate information we cannot fix the situation of these venerable relics of Roman antiquity more precisely than may be gathered from the preceding general indications. M. Valerius Messala and C. Cassius Longinus, who were censors in B.C. 154, projected, and even began, a theatre at this spot, which was to extend from the Lupercal on the Germalus towards the Palatine. But this scheme was opposed by the rigid morality of Scipio Nasica, and all the works were put up to auction and sold. (Veil. Pat. i. 15; Val. Blax. ii. 4. § 2; Appian, B. C. i. 28.) The Lupercal is men- tioned in the Monuinentum Ancyrammi, as recon- structed by Augustus ; whence Canina infers that the ancient one must have been destroyed when this theatre was commenced. {Tndicazione Topogr. p. 460, 1850.) The Casa Romuli is represented by Fabius Pictor, as translated by Dionysius of Hali- carnassus (i. 79), to have been carefully preserved in his time, the damage occasioned by age or tem- pests being made good according to the ancient pattern. Whether the building mentioned in the Notltia was still the same it is impossible to say. We have already noticed, when treating of the city of Romulus, the S^vnctuakt of Victoria — most probably a sacred grove — and the Clivus ViCTORiAE on the NW. slope of the Palatine. At or near this spot an Aedes Matris Deum was erected B.C. 191, to contain the image of the Mater Idaea, which Scipio Nasica had brought from Asia thirteen years before. (Liv. xxxvi. 35; Cic. Ear. R. 12.) It must have been to the N. of the Casa Romuli, since it is mentioned after it in the Notilia, when proceeding in that direction, yet at some distance from the N. point of the hill, be- tween which and the temple the Domus Tiberiana must have intervened. It is recorded as having been twice burnt down; once in B. c. 110, when it was rebuilt by Metellus (Jul. Obs. 99), and again in A. D. 2, in the same fire which destroyed the palace of Augustus, by whom it was restored. (Val. Max. i. 8. § 11 ; Dion Cass. Iv. 12; Man. Anajr.). It must also have been destroyed in the conflagration under Nero, and again rebuilt. Becker {Handb. p. 42 1 ) observes that its front must have faced the E., as the statue of the Magna Mater Idaea is described by Dion Cassius as looking that way (xlvi. 43). But this relates only to the statue ; and we fancy that there is some reason to believe, from a passage in Martial, that the temple was a round one, and could not therefore be properly said to ftice any way. In this passage two temples are mentioned (i. 70. 9): — " Flecte vias hac qua madidi sunt tecta Lyaei Et Cybeles picto stat Corybante tholus." Becker observes (p. 422) that the age and situation of the temples here mentioned cannot be deternnned, as they occur nowhere else; and this seems to be true of the temple of Bacchus; but there apj.ears to be no reason why the Tholus Cybelks— which Becker writes Torus, without any apparent meaning — may not have been the Aedes Matris Deum before referred to. The description of the road to the house of Proculus given in this epigram suits the situation of this temple ; and the house itself is mentioned as " nee propior quam Phoebus amat." Now, the temple of Apollo, built by Augustus, lay close to that of the Idaean Mother, as we shall sec presently; and, 3f 2