Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/856

 836 ROMA. of these fields in the district called Vaticanus: ''Aianti quatuor sua jusjera in Vaticano, quae piata Quinctia appellantur, Cincinnato viator attulit dic- taturam" (sviii. 4). That the Navalia were in the Campus Martins may also be inferred from Livv (xlv. 42) : " Naves regiae captae de Mace- donibus inusitatae ante magnitudinis in Campo Martio subductae sunt"; and from Plutarch's ac- count of the return of the vounger Cato from Cyprus, in which he relates that although the ma- gistrates and senate, as well as a great part of the Roman population, were ranged along both banks of the Tiber in order to greet him, yet he did not stop the course of his vessels till he arrived at the Navalia {Cat. Min. 39) ; a circumstance which shows that this arsenal must have lain towards the upper part of the stream's course through the city. Hence, though we cannot define the boundary between the Janiculum and the Vatican, nor consequently the exact situation of the Prata Quinctia, yet the site fixed upon by Becker for the Navalia, namely, between the Piazza Navona and Porto di Ripetta, seems sufficiently jirobable. Preller is disposed to place them rather lower down the stream, but without any adequate reason {Regionen, Anh. p. 242). It was Caesar who began the great changes in the Campus Martins to which we have before alluded. He had at one time meditated the gigantic plan of diverting the course of the Tiber from the Milvian bridge to the Vatican hill, by which the Ager Vaticanus would have been converted into a new Campus Martins, and the ancient one appro- priated to building; but this project was never car- ried into execution. (Cic. oc? .4«. xiii. 33.) The only building which he really began in the Campus was the Skpta Julia. It has been said, when treating of the Porta Flumentana, that a spot near the Circus Fhuninius was appropriated to the hold- ing of the Comitia Centuriata. In early times it was enclosed with a rude kind of fence or boundary, probably of hurdles; whence, from its resemblance to a slieep-fold, it obtained the name of Ovile, and subsequently of Septa. (Liv. xxvi. 22 ; Juv. vi. ,528 ; Serv. ad Virg. Ec. i. 34.) For this simple and primitive fence Caesar substituted a marble building (Septa marmorea), which was to be surrounded with a portico a mile square, and to be connected with the Villa Publica. {Gc. ad Att.'w. 16.) It was probably not much advanced at the time of Caesar's assassination; since we find that it was continued by the triumvir Lepidus, and finally dedicated by Agrippa (Dion Cass. liii. 23) ; but whether it was completed on the magnificent plan described by Cicero cannot be said. Its situation may be deter- mined by a passage in Frontiuus, in which he says that tiie arches of the Aqua Virgo ended in the Campus Martins in front of the Septa. {Aq. 22.) These arches, which, as we have seen before, began under the gardens of LucuUus on the Pinciaii, were conducted to the baths of Agrippa. Donati men- tions that remains of them were discovered in his time ill front of the church of S. Tgnazio (near the Collegia Romano). (Be Urh. R. iii. 18.) This coincides with remains of the portico of the Septa existing under the Palazzo Doria and churcii of S. Maria in Via Lata in the Corso (Canina, Indie. 400); and we may therefore cimclude that the Septa Julia stood at this spot. The portico must have enclosed a large open space where the assemblies .^ere held, and in which gladiatorial shows, and on ROMA. one occasion even a naumachia, were exhibited. (Suet. Aug. 43, Cat. 18, Ner. 12; Dion Cass. Iv. 8, lix. 10.) There was of course a suggestum or rostra, for haranguing the people. (Dion Cass. Ivi. 1 .) The Septa were destroyed in the great fire under Titus (Dion Cass. Ivi. 24), but nnist have been restored, since, in the time of Domitian, when they had lost their political importance, they appear to have been used as a market, in which the most valuable objects were exposed for sale. (Mart. ix. 60.) They appear to have undergone a subsequent restoration under Hadrian. (Spart. Had?: 19.) The Villa Publica adjoined the Septa Julia, and must have been on its S. side, since it is described by Varro {R. R. iii. 2) as being " in Campo Martio extremo," and must consequently have lain between the Septa and the Circus Flaminius, near the Palazzo di Venezia. The original one was an ancient and simple building, and is mentioned by Livy (iv. 22) as early as the year b. c. 436. It was u.sed by the consuls for the levying of troops, and by the censors for taking the census (Varr. I. c); also for the reception of foreign ambassadors wliom it was not thought advisable to admit into the city, and of Roman generals before they obtained permission to enter the gates in triumph (Liv. xxx. 21, xxxiii. 24, &c.). It was the scene of the massacre of the four Marian legions by Sulla (Val. Max. ix. 2. § 1 ; Liv. Epit. Ixxxviii.; Strab. v. 249). A passage in Lucan respecting this horrible transaction confirms the position of the Villa Publica close to the Septa (ii. 196): — " Tunc flos Hesperiae, Latli jam sola juventus Concidit et miserae maculavit Ovilia Romae" And another passage in Plutarch shows that it must have adjcined the Circus Flaminius on the other side (Ou fxrjv aAAd Koi tovtovs Kai rcev &wv Tohs TTtpiyivofj.ivovs fls e|aici(r;^iA^oiis aOpoiaas Trapd rhv iir-iroSpoixov, fKaKfi rijv aiiyKr]Tov fls rh TTJs 'Efi/oOj Up6v, Sull. 30.) Seneca (de Clem. i. 12) likewise mentions the assembling of the senate in the neighbouring temple of Bellona, where the cries of the massacred soldiers were heard; and this circumstance would rather lead us to suppose that the temple in question was situated at the eastern end, or towards the carceres, of the Circus Flaminius, since the Septa and Villa Publica must have lain towards that end of it nearest to tiie Capitol. 'I'he simple building described by Varro must have been that rebuilt in the censorship of S. Aelius Paetus and C. Cornelius Cethegus, B.C. 194. Caesar could hardly have done anything to it, since a coin of C. Fonteius Capito, consul in B. c. 33, testifies that the latter either restored or rebuilt it. The name of M. Vipsanius Agrippa, the son-in- law of Augustus, is connected with the principal changes and the most important buildings in the Campus Martius. The latter consisted of the Pan- theon, the thermae, a portico, and the large structure called the Diribitorium. The Campus Agrippae and its buildings will be described when we come to treat of that part of the district under consideration called Via Lata. The Pantheon of Agrippa, which is still in so good a state of preservation that it serves for public worship, is one of the finest monuments of ancient Rome. An inscription on the frieze of the portico testifies that it was erected by Agrippa in his third consulate; whilst another below records repairs by the emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla. From