Page:EB1911 - Volume 23.djvu/627

Rh discovered leading up past the tablinum end of the atrium from the Sacra Via to the Nova Via. In about the 4th century this road appears to have been blocked up at the Nova Via end by a building which adjoined the Atrium Vestae.

At the north-east corner of the Forum stood the arch of Q. Fabius Maximus, consul in 121 called Allobrogicus from his victory

over the Allobroges (Schol. on Cic., In Verr., Actio i. 7); Liv. Ep. lvi.; Plin. H.N. vii. 166). It marked the extreme, limit of the Forum in this direction (Cic. Pro Planc, 7, 17), as the rostra did at the other end. Remains of this arch were dug up and mostly destroyed in 1546, near the temple of Faustina; on one of the fragments then discovered was inscribed Q . FABIVS . Q . F . MAXSVMVS . AED . CVR . REST. (Dessau, ''Inscr. Lat. Sel., 43a''). About twenty-five other fragments, were found in 1882.

The central space of the Forum is paved with slabs of travertine, much patched at various dates; it appears to have been marked

out into compartments with incised lines (see Plate VIII.), the use of which is not known. There are also square holes which probably held masts on which awnings could be spread. Numerous clamp-holes all over the paving show where statues and other ornaments once stood. The recorded number of these is very great, and they must once have thickly crowded a great part of the central area. Two short marble walls or plutei covered with reliefs, discovered in 1872, stand on the north side. The rough travertine plinth on which they have been set is evidently of late date. Each of these marble screens has (on the inside) reliefs of a fat bull, boar and ram, decked out with sacrificial wreaths and vittae—the suovetaurilia. On the outside are scenes in the life of Trajan: in both cases the emperor is speaking from the rostra. On one we also see him seated on a suggest us instituting a charity for destitute children in 101—a scene similar to one shown in one of his first brasses with the legend ALIM[ENTA] ITALIAE; at the other end the emperor stands on the rostra, on which the two tiers of beaks are shown; he is addressing a crowd of citizens. In the background is shown the long line of arches of the Basilica Julia, with (on the left) what is probably the temple of Castor and the arch of Augustus. On the right are the statue of Marsyas and the sacred fig-tree. On the other slab a crowd of officials are bringing tablets and piling them in a heap to be burnt. This records the remission by Trajan of some arrears of debt due to the imperial treasury (Auson. Grat. Act. 32). The background here represents again the Basilica Julia, with (on the right) the Ionic temple of Saturn and the Corinthian temple of Vespasian. Between them is an arch, which may be that of Tiberius. On the left the