The Roman Forum. By N. M. Nichols, M.A., F.S.A. (Longmans.)
—This is a scholarly book, on which the author must have bestowed much time and research. It is quite a student's book, the chief pas- sages from classical authors bearing on the topography of the Forum being cited in the text or in foot-notes. Of these passages Mr. Nichols, being a scholar, has made a thoroughly intelligent use. The Forum, as he says, contained the Westminster Hall and the Old Bailey, as well as the Lombard Street and Exchange of Rome, and thus the most import- ant transactions of the world were arranged within its area. Identifying historical sites is peculiarly difficult, when we have to deal with somewhat meagre and confused data, and whore, too, the configura- tion of the ground has materially changed. Mr. Nichols seems to have diligently consulted the works of others, but he is quite com- petent to form an opinion of his own, and he is disposed to be More cautious than Mr. J. II. Parker, of whose explorations, however, he speaks with the highest respect. There hoe boon rather a tendency among recent archaeologiets to jump at conclusions, and Mr. Nichols says that in the case of some of the most important monuments, he has not been able to accept their views. For instance, he differs from them as to the relative position of the Comitium and Curia, and thinks that the former was partly in front, partly on the side of the latter. The more recent idea, we believe, is, that it was at the back of it. We know, at least, that the Curia was approached from tho Comitium by a very ancient flight of stops. With respect to the temples of Saturn and Vespasian, about which there has been endless controversy among antiquarians, Mr. Nichols feels pretty certain that the temple 'with the Ionic portico is that of Saturn, and thia he takes to be an almost certain inference from an expression is the Ancyran monument, whieh puts the Basilica Julia between the temples of Castor and Saturn. He gives us a full account of Trojan's famous monument, the remains of which were discovered in 1872. The sculptures, he thinks, adorned a sort of avenue leading to an altar and a statue of that emperor. In those sculptures the Rostra are represented, and thus they furnish a clue for determining their locality. It would seem that they stood opposite the middle of the Basilica Julia, in the open area of the Forum. Caesar's body, It will be remembered, was said to have been burnt in front of the Rostra. Traces of the base of a building which very possibly formed part of them have been lately found. As yet, the north-eastern part of the Forum remains buried. Here was the Basilica Porcia, Rome's earliest basilica, built by the elder Cato, B.C. 184. Here, too, was the famous Janus GOLUIlDUS, a monument of unknown antiquity. Near it was the Basilica Aomilin, dating originally from B.G. 179, and magnificently restored B.C. 50 by Aoniihius Pauline, the brother of the Triumvir Lepid LIU, Hence- forth it was known as the Basilica Paull All these buildings, or what- ever may remain of them, have yet to be brought to light. Scholars who care for the antiquities of Remo will road Mr. Nichols's book with interest, and will got from it incidentally much useful information.
Previous page
