Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/846

 826 ROMA. by the inscription of Ursus Togatus : thersiis TRAIANI THEUMIS AGKIPPAE ET TITI, &C. (Gruter, dcsssvii. 1). The site of tlie baths of Trajan, close to the church of S. Martmo, may be determined from another inscription found near that cliurch, in the pontificate of Paul III., which records some improvements made in them ; as well as from a notice by Anastasius, in his Life of Synnnachus (p. 88, Blanch.), stating that the church alluded to was erected " justa Thermas Tr.sjanas." It is a very common opinion that the house of Maecenas occupied part of the site of the baths of Titus, and this opinion is as probable as any other. It was a very lofty building. Horace describes it as a " molem propin- quam nubibus arduis" (Od. iii. 20. 10), and from its situation and height must no doubt have commanded a view of Tibur and its neighbourhood ; though we do not draw that conclusion from the immediately preceding lines, where we think the far better reading is, " Ut semper udum Tibur," &c., the semper belong- ing to" udum," and not to " contemplerc " (cf. Tate's Ilorace, Prel. Diss. p. 24). We have before related how Nero beheld the fire of Rome from the house of Maecenas. Suetonius, in his account of that scene, calls the house " turris Maecenatiana " (Nero, 38), by which, perhaps, we are not to understand a tower, properly so called, but a lofty superstructure of several stories over the lower part of the house (Becker, ChariUes, i. p. 195). Maecenas bequeathed his house and gardens to Augustus ; and Tiberius lived there after his return from Rhodes, and before he succeeded to the empire (Suet. Tib. 15). The subsequent history of the house is unknown ; but, as we have said, it may probably have been included in the baths of Titus. Close to the gardens of Maecenas lay the Horti Lamlvni (Philo Jud. vol. ii. p. 597, Mang.), belong- ing perhaps, to the Aelius Lamia celebrated by Horace (Od. i. 26, &c.). We learn from Valerius Jlaximus (iv. 4. 8) that the ancient family of the Aelii dwelt where the monument of JMarius afterwards stood ; whence it seems probable that the Horti Lamiani may have lain to the E. of those of Maecenas, to- wards the church of S. Bihiana. It v,as here that the body of Caligula was first hastily buried, which was afterwards burnt and reinterred by his sisters (Suet. Cnl. 59). There appear to have been several more gardens between the Porta Esquilina and the modern Porta Maggiore; as the Horti Pallantiani, founded ap- parently by Pallas, the powerful freedman of Claudius (Tac.^n?j.xi.29; Suet. Claud. 28; Plin. Ep. viii.6); and which, from several passages of Frontinus (^Aq. 19, seq.), appear to have been situated between r. Maggiwe, the Marian monument, and the church of S. Uibiana. Frontinus also mentions (Aq. 68) certain Horti Epapiiroditiani, perhaps belonging to Epapiiroditus, the libertus of Nero, who assisted in putting that emperor to death (Suet. AV.49, Uom. 14; Tac. Ann. xv. 55); as well as some Horti Tor- QUATiANi (c. 5), apparently in the same neighbour- hood. The Campus Viminalis sub Aggere of the Notitia was probably an exercise ground for the Praetorian tnxips on the outside of the agger near the Porta Viminalis. Hence the eastern ridge of the Viminal and Esquiline beyond the Servian walls must have been very open and airy. The Esquiline derives more interest from its having been the residence of several distinguished poets and authors than the most splendid palaces could have conferred upon it. Virgil dwelt upon the Esquiline, ROMA. close to the gardens of his patron Maecenas. Whether Horace also had a house there cannot be said ; but he was certainly a frequent guest with ^Maecenas ; he loved to saunter on " the sunny agger," and he was at last buried close to the tomb of his munificent benefactor at the extremity of the hill. (Suet. V. Hor. 20.) Propertius himself informs us tliat his abode was on the Esquiline (iii. (iv.). 23. 23); where also dwelt the younger Pliny, apparently in the house formerly belonging to the poet Pedo Albinovanus (Plin. Ep. iii. 21; Mart. x. 19). Its precise situa- tion will be examined a little further oa, when treating of the Lacus Orphei. The Esquiline and its neighbourhood did not contain many temples of note. That of Tellus, already mentioned, was the most important one ; the rest seem for the most part to have been more remarkable for antiquity than for size or beauty. We have already adverted to the ancient sacraria mentioned here by Varro (£•. L. v. 49, seq.); as the LucusASD Sacellusi of Jupiter Fagutalis, on the southern side of the Oppius; the Lucus Esqiii- LiNus, probably near the Esquiline gate; a Lucus Poetelius; a Lucus Mefitis, with an aedes, lying near the Vicus Patricius (Festus, s. v. Septimontio, p. 351, Miill.) ; and a Lucus of Juno Lucina, where, according to Pliny (xvi. 85), a temple was built to that goddess, b. c. 374 ; although it would appear from Dionysius (iv. 15) that there must have been one there previously in the time of Servius Tul- 11 us. An inscription relating to this temple was found in 1770, in digging the foundations of the monastery delle PaoUotte, in the road which sepa- rated the Oppius and Cispius. We learn from Ovid (^Fust. ii. 435) that the grove lay beneath the Esquiline ; but as it appears from Varro that the temple stood on the Cispius, whilst the stone with the inscription in question was found on the side of the Oppius: it is probable that it may have rolled down froin the monastery of the Filippine on tb.e opposite height (Nibby, Roma nelAnno 1838, p. 670; Urlichs, Pom. Top. p. 120; Camna,, Indie, p. 151). The Sacelluji Streniae, where the Sacra Via began, probably lay on the S. side of the Carinae, near the Colosseum. It seems not improbable that the Lucus Veneris Libitinae may also have been situated on the Esquiline, on account of the neigh- bourhood of the Campus Esquilinus ; but there are no authorities by which its site can be satisfactorily determined. It was the great magazine for funereal paraphernalia (cf. Dionys. iv. 15; Festus, s.v.Rustica Vinalia, p. 265 ; Pint. Q. R. 23). On the Esqui- line were also Altars of ]Iala Fortuna and of Febris, the latter close to the Marian monument (Cic. N. D. iii. 25; Plin. ii. 5; Val. Max. ii. 5. § 6). We may likewise mention a Temple of Fortuna Respiciexs (Pint. Fort. R. 10), of Fortuna Seia in the Vicus Sandaliarius (Inscr. ap. Graev. Thes.nu p. 288; Plin. xxxvi. 46), and one of Diana in the Vicus Patricius, from which men were excluded (Pint. Q. R. 3). The Hercules Victor or Hercules SuLLANus of the Notitia was perhaps only a statue. We shall close this list by mentioning a Temple of Spes Vetus, near the Horti Pallantiani, several times alluded to by Frontinus; of Isis Patricia, probably in the Vicus Patricius ; and of Minerva Meuica, commonly identified with the ruins of a large circular building in a vineyard near the Porta Maggiore. This building bore, in the middle ages, the name of Le Galuzze, whence Canina is of opinion that it was the place where the emperor GalUcuus