Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/368

326 Not far from Tarquin's Palace are the foundations of the famous temple of Jupiter Stator, said to have been built by Romulus. And in another part of the hill are pointed out the ruins of an old wall said to have been built by Romulus, and at any rate belonging to the kingly period of Rome.

Close to Tarquin's Palace is also the later palace of Augustus, which is however mostly buried in earth; and the vast ruins now visible here are those of the still later palace which Vespasian built on the top of the older palace of Augustus. The Basilica or the ancient law court, the Tablinum where statues and pictures were kept, the Lararium dedicated to the worship of deified members of the family, the Peristyle or court-yard, the Triclinium or dining-room, and a Nymphium or fountain, are all pointed out to visitors. It is from the Peristyle of Vespasian's palace that we descend by a narrow staircase into the excavated fragment of the older palace of Augustus, in which are still remains of gilding and fresco paintings on the walls.

Beyond the Palatine Hill is a valley which separates it from the Aventine Hill. The Romans lived on the Palatine and the Sabines on the Aventine, and it is in this valley that the rape of the Sabines is said to have taken place.

From the top of the Palatine Hill are seen, like the vast ramparts of a fortified town, the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla! Next only to the Colosseum these baths are the most gigantic ruins of ancient Rome, and the colosseum