Читать книгу Rambles in Rome - S. Russell Forbes - Страница 84

The Statue was destroyed by the people after his death, and the base of the pedestal is all we have left, standing upon the travertine pavement of the Forum. It is interesting to archæologists as putting to rest the arguments in reference to the names and positions of the different buildings in the Forum. The poet Statius ("Silvæ," i. 1, 22) describes the relative position of the different buildings and this statue. He tells us that the statue was situated in the middle of the Forum, near the Curtian Lake. In front of it was the temple of the deified Julius; behind it were the Temples of Vespasian and Concord; on one side the Basilica Julia, and on the other the Basilica Æmilia; whilst the rider looked towards the Temple of Vesta and the Imperial Palace.

MARCUS CURTIUS LEAPING INTO THE GULF.

(Relief in the Villa Borghese.)] View larger image.

Suetonius tells us that the tablet inscribed upon the base of Domitian's triumphal statue was carried away by the violence of a storm, and fell upon a neighbouring monument.

A little beyond this pedestal, to the right, are the remains of another pedestal, a deep round hole recently closed, and beyond it a third pedestal.

Upon the first we will place