Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/825

 BOMA. ET Latina (Suet. Aiu). 29; Dion Cass. liii. 1; Man. Ancyr.) These far-famed libraries were quite distinct institutions, as appears from monumental inscriptions to slaves and freedmen attached to them, who are mentioned as " a Bibliotheca Latina Apollinis," or, " a Bibliotheca Graeca Palatina" (Panvinius in Graevius, Thes. iii. col. 305; Orell. Inscr. 40, 41). In them were the busts or clipeatae imagines of distinguished authors. (Tac. A7in. ii. 83.) Propertius, in a short poem (iii. 29), has £;iven so vivid a description of the whole building, that we cannot do better than insert it : — " Quaeris cur veniam tibi tardior? Aurea Phœbo Porticus a magno Caesare aperta fait. Tota erat in speciem Poenis digesta columnis Inter quas Danai femina turba senis. Hie equidem Phœbo visus niihi pulchrior ipso Marmoreus tacita carmen hiare lyra. Atque aram circum steterant armenta Myronis Quatuor artificis, vivida signa, boves. Turn medium claro surgebat inarmore templum Et patria Phœbo carius Ortygia. In quo Solis erat supra fastigia currus Et valvae Libyci nobiledentis opus. Altera dejectos Parnassi vertice Gallos Altera moerebat funera Tantalidos. Deiude inter matrem deus atque inter sororem Pythius in longa carmina veste sonat." Hence we learn that the columns of the portico were of African marble, and between them stood statues of the fifty daughters of Danaus (cf. Ovid. Amor. ii. 2. 4.) According to Acron, fifty eques- trian statues of the sons of Danaus also stood in the open space. (Schol. ad Pers. ii. 56.) The temple itself was of solid white marble from Luna (Cwr- rara). (Serv. Virg. Ae7i. viii. 720.) The statue alluded to by Propertius as " Phœbo pulchrior ipso " was that of Augustus himself, which repre- .lented him in the dress and attitude of Apollo. (Schol. Cruq. ad Ho?: £/j. i. 3, 17: Serv. ad Virg. Ec. ir. 10.) In the library was also a colossal bronze statue of Apollo, 50 feet in height (Plin. xxxiv. 18), as well as many precious works of art. (lb. xxxiv. 8, xxxvii. 5, &c.) The Sibylline books were preserved in the temple (Suet. Aug. 31; Amm. Marc, xxiii. 3) before which was the spacious place called the Area Apollinis. From all these notices we may gather some idea of the splendour of this celebrated temple; but its exact site, as well as that of the Palace of Augustus, is nowhere clearly intimated. From several pas- sages, however, which have been cited when dis- cussing the situation of the Porta Mugionis, we may infer pretty accurately that the latter must have stood at the NE. side of the Palatine, between the arch of Titus and the temple of Vesta. (S. Maria Liheratrice.) It appears from a passage in Ovid (" Inde tenore pari," &c., Trist. iii. 1. 59), that the temple must have lain some way beyond the palace, and there seems to be no reason why we may not place it near S. Teodoro, though it stood perhaps on the summit of the hill. This seems to be the ppot indicated in the Notitia. The temple is there called " aedis Apollinis Rliamnusii" — an epithet not easily explained, notwithstanding the attempt of Preller (/i:e(7to7ie?j, p. 182); although there can be no doubt that the temple built by Augustus is meant. In the same document a Domus Tiberiana, or palace of Tiberius, is mentioned as distinct from that of Augustus; a house, indeed, which he probably ROMA. 805 inherited, as he was- born on the Palatine. (Suet. Tib. 5.) In his youth, when he lived in a quiet, retired manner, he first inhabited the house of Pompey in the Carinae, and afterwards that of Maecenas on the Esquiline (/J. 15); but when he became emperor, it is most probable that he resided on the Palatine, till he secluded himself in the island of Capreae. The Domus Tiberiana must have stood near the NW. corner of the Palatine, since it is described as aifording an exit into theVelabruni("per Tiberianam domum in Velabrum," Ta.c. Hist. i. 27). Suetonius, speaking of the same departure of Otho, says that he hastened out at the back of the palace (" proripuit se a postica parte Palatii," Otho, 6); from which passages it would appear that the two palaces were connected together, that of Augustus being the more conspicuous towards the forum, whilst that of Tiberius formed the back front. It was from the latter that Vitellius surveyed the storming of the Capitol. (Suet. Vit 15.) At a later period of the Empire we find a Bibliotheca mentioned in the palace of Ti- berius, which had probably superseded the Palatine Library, as the latter is no longer mentioned. (A. Cell. xiii. 19; Vopisc. Prob. 2.) All these build- ings must, of course, have been destroyed in the fire of Nero; but we must assume that, after they were re- built, the Domus August! et Tiberii still continued to be distinguished, as they are mentioned as separate buildings in the Notitia; and indeed Josephus ex- pressly says that the different parts of the complex of buildings forming the imperial palace were named after their respective founders. (^Ant. Jud. xx. 1. §15)- On or near the Palatine we must also place the Templum Augusti — one of the only two public works which Tiberius undertook at Rome, the other being the scena of the theatre of Pompey. Even these he did not live to finish, but left them to be completed and dedicated by Caligula. (Tac. Ann. vi. 45; Suet. Tib. 47, Cal. 21.) The circumstance of Caligula using this temple as a sort of pier for his bridge to the Capitoline makes it doubtful whether it could have stood on the Palatine hill. (Suet. lb. 22.) Yet Pliny (xii. 42) alludes to it as " in Palatii templo; " and if it was not exactly on the summit of the hill, it could not have been very far from it. Becker conjectures that the Bridge of Caligula passed over the Basilica Julia; but the only proof is, that Caligula was accustomed to fling money to the people from the roof of the basilica, which he might have ascended without a bridge. (Suet. Cal. 37, Jos. Ant. Jud. xix. 1, § 11.) The bridge, perhaps, did not stand very long. Caligula seems to have made ex- tensive alterations in the imperial palace, though we cannot trace them accurately. (" Bis vidinms urbem totam cingi domibus principum Caii et Neronis," Plin. xxxvi. 24. s. 5.) We have already mentioned that he connected the temple of Castor with it. Yet in his time there must have been still some private dwellings on the NE. side of the Palatine, as Pliny mentions that the lotus- trees belonging to the house of Crassus at that spot lasted till the fire of Nero. (lb. xvii. ].) The enormous buildings of the last-n.imed emperor probably engro.ssed the whole of the Palatine; at all events we liear no more of private houses there after the commencement of his reign. We have already adverted to Nero's two palaces. The first of these, or Domus Transitoria, with its gardens, though not finished in the same style of splendour 3 F 3