How different is this description to that of Claudian (de Sexto Consulat. Honorii).

"The Palatine, proud Rome's imperial seat, (An awful pile) stands venerably great: Thither the kingdoms and the nations come, In supplicating crowds to learn their doom: To Delphi less th' inquiring worlds repair, Nor does a greater god inhabit there: This sure the pompous mansion was design'd To please the mighty rulers of mankind; Inferior temples rise on either hand, And on the borders of the palace stand, While o'er the rest her head she proudly rears, And lodged amidst her guardian gods appears."

_Addison's Translation._

After the middle of the sixteenth century a great part of the Palatine became the property of the Farnese family, latterly represented by the Neapolitan Bourbons, who sold the "Orti Farnesiani," in 1861, to the Emperor Napoleon III., for 10,000. Up to that time this part of the Palatine was a vast kitchen-garden, broken here and there by picturesque groups of ilex trees and fragments of mouldering wall. In one corner was a casino of the Farnese (still standing) adorned in fresco by some of the pupils of Raphael. This and all the later buildings in the "Orti,"

are marked with the Farnese _fleur-de-lis_, and on the principal staircase of the garden is some really grand distemper ornament of their time. Since 1861 extensive excavations have been carried on here under the superintendence of Signor Rosa, which have resulted in the discovery of the palaces of some of the earlier emperors, and the substructions of several temples. After the revolution of 1870 the French portion of the Palatine was sold by the Ex-Emperor Napoleon to the Roman municipal government.

In visiting the Palace of the Caesars, it will naturally be asked how it is known that the different buildings are what they are described to be.

In a great measure this has been ascertained from the descriptions of Tacitus and other historians,--but the greatest assistance of all has been obtained from the Tristia of Ovid, who, while in exile, consoles himself by recalling the different buildings of his native city, which he mentions in describing the route taken by his book, which he had persuaded a friend to convey to the imperial library. He supposes the book to enter the Palatine by the Clivus Victoriae behind the Temple of Vesta, and follows its course, remarking the different objects it passed on the right or the left.

If we enter the palace by the Farnese gateway, on the right of the Campo-Vaccino, opposite SS. Cosmo e Damiano, we had better only ascend the first division of the staircase and then turn to the left. Passing along the lower ridge of the Palatine, afterwards occupied by many of the great patrician houses, whose sites we shall return to and examine in detail, we reach that corner of the garden which is nearest to the Arch of Titus. Here a paved road of large blocks of lava has lately been laid bare, and is identified beyond a doubt as part of the Via Nova, which led from the Porta Mugonia of the Palatine along the base of the hill to the Velabrum. In the reign of Augustus it appears to have been made to communicate also with the Forum.

"Qua Nova Romano nunc Via juncta Foro est."

_Ovid, Fast._ vi. 396.

At this point the road was called _Summa Via Nova_.

Near this spot must have been the site of the house where Octavius lived with his wife Afra, the niece of Julius Caesar (daughter of his eldest sister Julia), and where their son, Octavius, afterwards the Emperor Augustus, was born. This house afterwards passed into the possession of C. Laetorius, a patrician; but after the death of Augustus, part of it was turned into a chapel, and consecrated to him. It was situated at the top of a staircase--"supra scalas annularias"[101]--which probably led to the Forum, and is spoken of as "ad capita bubula," perhaps from bulls' heads, with which it may have been decorated.

Here we find ourselves, owing to the excavations, in a deep hollow between the two divisions of the hill. On the left is the Velia, upon which, near the Porta Mugonia, the Sabine king, Ancus Martius, had his palace. When Ancus died, he was succeeded by an Etruscan stranger, Lucius Tarquinius, who took the name of Tarquinius Priscus. This king also lived upon the Velia,[102] with Tanaquil his queen, and here he was murdered in a popular rising, caused by the sons of his predecessor.

Here his brave wife Tanaquil closed the doors, concealed the death of the king, harangued the people from the windows,[103] and so gained time till Servius Tullius was prepared to take the dead king's place and avenge his murder.[104]

Keeping to the valley, on our right are now some huge blocks of tufa, of great interest as part of the ancient _Roma Quadrata_, anterior to Romulus. Beyond this, also on the right, are foundations of the _Temple of Jupiter Stator_, built by Romulus, who vowed that he would found a temple to Jupiter under that name, if he would arrest the flight of his Roman followers in their conflict with the superior forces of the Sabines.[105]

"Inde petens dextram, porta est, ait, ista Palati; Hic Stator, hoc primum condita Roma loco est."

_Ovid, Trist._ iii. El. I.

"Tempus idem Stator aedis habet, quam Romulus olim Ante Palatini condidit ora jugi."

_Ovid, Fast._ vi. 793.

The temple of Jupiter Stator has an especial interest from its connection with the story of Cicero and Catiline.

"Ciceron rassembla le senat dans le temple de Jupiter Stator. Le choix du lieu s'explique facilement; ce temple etait pres de la principale entree du Palatin sur le Velia, dominant, en cas d'emeute, le Forum, que Ciceron et les principaux senateurs habitants du Palatin n'avaient pas a traverser comme s'il eut fallu se rendre a la Curie. D'ailleurs Jupiter Stator, qui avait arrete les Sabines a la porte de Romulus, arreterait ces nouveaux ennemis qui voulaient sa ruine. La Ciceron prononca la premiere Catilinaire. Ce discours dut etre en grande partie improvise, car les evenements aussi improvisaient. Ciceron ne savait si Catilina oserait se presenter devant le senat; en le voyant entrer, il concut son fameux exorde: 'Jusqu'a quand, Catilina, abuseras-tu de notre patience!'

"Malgre la garde volontaire de chevaliers qui avait accompagne Ciceron et qui se tenait a la porte du temple, Catilina y entra et salua tranquillement l'assemblee; nul ne lui rendit son salut, a son approche on s'ecarta et les places resterent vides autour de lui. Il ecouta les foudroyantes apostrophes de Ciceron, qui, apres l'avoir accable des preuves de son crime, se bornait a lui dire: 'Sors de Rome. Va-t-en!'

"Catilina se leva et d'un air modeste pria le senat de ne pas croire le consul avant qu'une enquete eut ete faite. 'II n'est pas vraisemblable, ajouta-t-il, avec une hauteur toute aristocratique, qu'un patricien, lequel, aussi bien que ses ancetres, a rendu quelques services a la republique, ne puisse exister que par sa ruine, et qu'on ait besoin d'un etranger d'Arpinum pour la sauver.'

Tant d'orgueil et d'impudence revolterent l'assemblee; on cria a Catilina: 'Tu es un ennemi de la patrie, un meurtrier.' Il sortit, reunit encore ses amis, leur recommanda de se debarasser de Ciceron, prit avec lui un aigle d'argent qui avait appartenu a une legion de Marius, et a minuit quitta Rome et partit par la voie Aurelia pour aller rejoindre son armee."--_Ampere, Hist. Rom._ iv.

445.

Nearly opposite the foundations of Jupiter Stator, on the left,--are some remains considered to be those of the Porta Palatii.

The valley is now blocked by a vast mass of building which entirely closes it. This is the palace of Augustus, built in the valley between the Velia and the other eminence of the Palatine, which Rosa, contrary to other opinions, identifies with the _Germale_. The division of the Palatine thus named, was reckoned as one of "the seven hills" of ancient Rome. Its name was thought to be derived from Germani, owing to Romulus and Remus being found in its vicinity.[106]

The _Palace of Augustus_ was begun soon after the battle of Actium, and gradually increased in size, till the whole valley was blocked up by it, and its roofs became level with the hill-sides. Part of the ground which it covered had previously been occupied by the villa of Catiline.[107]

Here Suetonius says that Augustus occupied the same bed-room for forty years. Before the entrance of the palace it was ordained by the Senate, B.C. 26, that two bay-trees should be planted, in remembrance of the citizens he had preserved, while an oak wreath was placed above the gate in commemoration of his victories.

"Singula dum miror, video fulgentibus armis Conspicuos postes, tectaque digna deo.

An Jovis haec, dixi, domus est? Quod ut esse putarem, Augurium menti querna corona dabat.

Cujus ut accepi dominum, non fallimur, inquam: Et magni rerum est hanc Jovis esse domum.

Cur tamen apposita velatur janua lauro?

Cingit et Augustas arbor opaca fores?"

_Ovid, Trist._ i. 33.

"State Palatinae laurus; praetextaque quercu Stet domus; aeternos tres habet una deos."

_Fast._ iv. 953.

It was before the gate of this palace that Augustus upon one day in every year sate as a beggar, receiving alms from the passers-by, in obedience to a vision that he should thus appease Nemesis.

Upon the top of this building of Augustus, Vespasian built his palace in A.D. 70, not only using the walls of the older palace as a support for his own, but filling the chambers of the earlier building entirely up with earth, so that they became a solid massive foundation. The ruins which we visit are thus for the most part those of the palace of Vespasian, but from one of its halls we can descend into rooms underneath excavated from the palace of Augustus. The three projecting rostra which we now see in front of the palace are restorations by Signor Rosa.

The palace on the Palatine was not the place where the emperors generally lived. They resided at their villas, and came into the town to the Palace of the Caesars for the transaction of public business. Thus this palace was, as it were, the St. James's of Rome. The fatigue and annoyance of a public arrival every morning, amid the crowd of clients who always waited upon the imperial footsteps, was naturally very great, and to obviate this the emperors made use of a subterranean passage which ran round the whole building, and by which they were enabled to arrive unobserved, and not to present themselves in public till their appearance upon the rostra in front of the building to receive the morning salutations of their people.

If we ascend a winding path to the right, to the garden which now covers the greater part of the hill Germale, we shall find a staircase which descends on the left to join this passage, following which, we will ascend, with the emperor, into his palace.

The passage, called _Crypto-Porticus_, is still quite perfect, and retains a great part of its mosaic pavements and much of its inlaid ceilings, from which the gilt mosaic has been picked out, but the pattern is still traceable. The passage was lighted from above. It was by this route that St. Laurence was led up for trial in the basilica, of the palace. Turning to the left, we again emerge upon the upper level.

The emperor here reached the palace, but as he did not yet wish to appear in public, he turned to the left by the private passage called _Fauces_, which still remains, running behind the main halls of the building. Here he was received by the different members of the imperial family, much as Napoleon III. was received by Princesses Mathilde, Clotilde, and the Murats, in a private apartment at the Tuileries, before entering the ball-room. Hence, passing across the end of the basilica, the emperor reached the portico in front of the palace, looking down upon the hollow space where were the Temple of Jupiter Stator and the other buildings connected with the early history of the Roman state. Here the whole Court received him and escorted him to the central rostra, where he had his public reception from the people assembled below, and whence perhaps he addressed to them a few words of morning salutation in return. The attendants meanwhile defiled on either side to the lower terraced elevation, which still remains.

This ceremony being gone through, the emperor returned as he came, to the basilica, for the transaction of business.

The name Basilica means "King's House." It was the ancient Law Court. It usually had a portico, was oblong in form, and ended in an apse for ornament. The Christians adopted it for their places of worship because it was the largest type of building then known. They also adopted the names of the different parts of the pagan basilica, as the Confessional, from the _Confession_, the bar of justice at which the criminal was placed,--the Tribune, from the _Tribunal_ of the Judge, &c. A chapel and sacristy added on either side produced the form of the cross. The _Basilica_ here is of great width. A leg of the emperor's chair actually remains _in situ_ upon the tribunal, and part of the richly wrought bar of the Confession still exists. This was the bar at which St. Laurence and many other Christian martyrs were judged. The basilica in the palace of the Caesars was also the scene of the trial of Valerius Asiaticus in the time of Claudius (see Chap. II.), when the Empress Messalina, who was seated near the emperor upon the tribunal, was so overcome by the touching eloquence of the innocent man, that she was obliged to leave the hall to conceal her emotion,--but characteristically whispered as she went out, that the accused must nevertheless on no account be suffered to escape with his life,[108]--that she might take possession of his Pincian Garden, which was as Naboth's Vineyard in her eyes. An account is extant which describes how it was necessary to increase the width of the seat upon the tribunal at this period, in consequence of a change in the fashion of dress among the Roman ladies.

This basilica, though perhaps not then itself in existence, will always have peculiar interest as showing the form and character of that earlier basilica in the Palace of the Caesars, in which St. Paul was tried before Nero. But it is quite possible that it may be the same actual basilica itself,--and that the palace of Nero which overran the whole of the hill, may have had its basilica on this site, where it was preserved by Vespasian in his later and more contracted palace.

"The appeals from the provinces in civil causes were heard, not by the emperor himself, but by his delegates, who were persons of consular rank: Augustus had appointed one such delegate to hear appeals from each province respectively. But criminal appeals appear generally to have been heard by the emperor in person, assisted by his council of assessors. Tiberius and Claudius had usually sat for this purpose in the Forum; but Nero, after the example of Augustus, heard these causes in the imperial palace, whose ruins still crown the Palatine. Here, at one end of a splendid hall,[109] lined with the precious marbles of Egypt and of Libya, we must imagine Caesar seated in the midst of his assessors.

These councillors, twenty in number, were men of the highest rank and greatest influence. Among them were the two consuls and selected representatives of each of the other great magistracies of Rome. The remainder consisted of senators chosen by lot. Over this distinguished bench of judges presided the representatives of the most powerful monarchy which has ever existed,--the absolute ruler of the whole civilised world.

"Before the tribunal of the blood-stained adulterer Nero, Paul was brought in fetters, under the custody of his military guard. The prosecutors and their witnesses were called forward, to support their accusation; for although the subject-matter for decision was contained in the written depositions forwarded from Judaea by Festus, yet the Roman law required the personal presence of the accusers and the witnesses, whenever it could be obtained. We already know the charges brought against the Apostle. He was accused of disturbing the Jews in the exercise of their worship, which was secured to them by law; of desecrating their Temple; and, above all, of violating the public peace of the empire by perpetual agitation, as the ringleader of a new and factious sect. This charge was the most serious in the view of a Roman statesman; for the crime alleged amounted to _majestas_, or treason against the commonwealth, and was punishable with death.

"These accusations were supported by the emissaries of the Sanhedrim, and probably by the testimony of witnesses from Judaea, Ephesus, Corinth, and the other scenes of Paul's activity.... When the parties on both sides had been heard, and the witnesses all examined, the judgment of the court was taken. Each of the assessors gave his opinion in writing to the emperor, who never discussed the judgment with his assessors, as had been the practice of better emperors, but after reading their opinion, gave sentence according to his own pleasure, without reference to the judgment of the majority. On this occasion it might have been expected that he would have pronounced the condemnation of the accused, for the influence of Poppaea had now reached its culminating point, and she was a Jewish proselyte. We can scarcely doubt that the emissaries from Palestine would have demanded her aid for the destruction of a traitor to the Jewish faith; nor would any scruples have prevented her listening to their request, backed as it probably was, according to Roman usage, by a bribe. However this may be, the trial resulted in the acquittal of St. Paul. He was pronounced guiltless of the charges brought against him, his fetters were struck off, and he was liberated from his long captivity."--_Conybeare and Howson._

Beyond the basilica is the _Tablinum_, the great hall of the palace, which served as a kind of commemorative domestic museum, where family statues and pictures were preserved. This vast room was lighted from above, on the plan which may still be seen at Sta. Maria degli Angeli, which was in fact a great hall of a Roman house. The roof of this hall was one vast arch, unsupported except by the side walls. We have record of a period when these walls were supposed insufficient for the great weight, and had to be strengthened, in interesting confirmation of which we can still see how the second wall was added and united to the first.

Appropriately opening from the family picture gallery of the Tablinum, was the _Lararium_, a private chapel for the worship of such members of the family--Livia and many others--as were deified after death. An altar, on the original site, has been erected here by Signor Rosa, from bits which have been found.

Hitherto the chambers which we have visited were open to the public; beyond this, none but his immediate family and attendants could follow the emperor. We now enter the _Peristyle_, a courtyard, which was open to the sky, but surrounded with arcades ornamented with statues, where we may imagine that the empresses amused themselves with their birds and flowers. Hence, by a narrow staircase, we can descend into what is perhaps the most interesting portion of the whole, the one unearthed fragment of the actual _Palace of Augustus_, which still retains remains of gilding and fresco, and an artistic group in stucco. An original window remains, and it will be recollected on looking at it, that when this was built it was not subterranean, but merely in the hollow of the valley, afterwards filled up. In these actual rooms may have lived Livia, who in turn inhabited three houses on the Palatine, first that of her first husband Nero Drusus, whom Augustus compelled her to divorce; then the imperial house of Augustus; and lastly that of Tiberius, the son by her first husband, whom she was the means of raising to the throne.

We now reach the _Triclinium_ or dining-room, surrounded by a skirting of pavonazzetto with a cornice of giallo. Tacitus describes a scene in the imperial triclinium, in which the Emperor Tiberius is represented as reclining at dinner, having on one side his aged mother, the Empress Livia, and on the other his niece Agrippina, widow of Germanicus and granddaughter of the great Augustus.[110] It was while the imperial family were seated at a banquet in the triclinium, in the time of Nero, that his young step-brother Britannicus (son of Claudius and Messalina) swallowed the cup of poison which the emperor had caused Locusta to prepare and sank back dead upon his couch, his wretched sisters Antonia and Octavia, also seated at the ghastly feast, not daring to give expression to their grief and horror,--and Nero merely desiring the attendants to carry the boy out, and saying that it was a fit to which he was subject.[111] Here it was that Marcia the concubine presented the cup of drugged wine to the wicked Commodus, on his return from a wild beast hunt, and produced the heavy slumber during which he was strangled by the wrestler Narcissus. In this very room also his successor Pertinax, who had spent his short reign of three months in trying to reform the State, resuscitate the finances, and to heal, as far as possible, 'the wounds inflicted by the hand of tyranny,' received the news that the guard, impatient of unwonted discipline, had risen against him, and going forth to meet his assassins, fell, covered with wounds, just in front of the palace.[112]

Vitruvius says that every well-arranged Roman house has a dining-room opening into a nymphaeum, and accordingly here, on the right, is a _Nymphaeum_, with a beautiful fountain surrounded by miniature niches, once filled with bronzes and statues. Water was conveyed hither by the Neronian aqueduct. The pavement of this room was of oriental alabaster, of which fragments remain.