THE TOPOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES OF ROME. DISSERTATION THE EIGHTH. THE SIXTH AND SEVENTH REGIONS, CALLED ALTA SEMITA AND VIA LATA; ADDING THE FORUM OF TRAJAN, TAKEN FROM THE EIGHTH REGION, AND THE GARDENS OF SALLUST WITH THE MONTE PINCIO, AT THE EXTREMITY OF THE TWO REGIONS. NORTHERN "Intervalla vides humanè commoda. Verum Puræ sunt plateæ, nihil ut meditantibus obstet." HOR. EP. lib. ii. ep. 2. THERE were several streets in ancient Rome, which, from their situation or importance, were denominated VIÆ; Panvinio enumerates seven such, in the following order: VIA SACRA, VIA NOVA, VIA LATA, VIA NOVA [alia], VIA FORNICATA, VIA RECTA, VIA ALTA QUÆ ET ALTA Of these, the Via Sacra and the two called Nova have already come under consideration: the Via Fornicata and the Via Recta were about the Campus Martius; and the latter has been thought to coincide with the present Strada Julia, which runs from the Ponte Xysto to the church of S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, nearly parallel with the Tyber. The two remaining "VIE" gave names to their respective regions. The most probable direction that can now be assigned to the Alta Semita is along the summit of the Quirinale hill, from the Monte Cavallo to the Quattro Fontane: such a direction better accords with what is simply conveyed in the two Latin words than the descent which leads from the Quattro Fontane to the Piazza Barberini, and which would more properly be termed a "Clivus." The position of the Via Lata is, in some measure, preserved in a faithful tradition; for near the Piazza Sciarra is a church called S. Maria in Via Lata. Anastasius, who makes frequent mention of this street, says, the Basilica of the SS. Apostoli stood in it as well as the church just mentioned1; from which description it appears, that the Via Lata was not in the direction of the modern Corso, but tended towards the Quirinale hill, finishing not far from Trajan's Forum, and perhaps beginning at the temple of Antoninus. It has not been found easy to separate the sixth and seventh regions by any certain boundaries; we shall, therefore, endeavour to draw a general outline 1" Basilicæ itaque Apostolorum in Via Lata porticus in circuitu renovavit." · Anastas. Bibliothec. in vit. Hadrian. Pontif. p. 254. edit. Rom. 1718. "Et in Diaconia S. Dii Genetricis, quæ ponitur Via Lata, fecit coronam," &c. Ibid. p. 298.; conf. p. 289. 293. et alia. 2 for the two together. Beginning near the Forum of Nerva, this outline will pass under the Quirinale hill, by the church of the Madonna de' Monti, by the Via de' Serpenti, and the Quirinale valley, through which we have already gone by the Via Vitale. Thus arriving at the Strada delle Quattro Fontane, our boundary must be carried round the baths of Dioclesian, and the substructions existing in the Villa Barberini; from this extreme point it will return by the Piazza Barberini and the Collegio Nazareno to the Corso, where once stood the arch of Marcus Aurelius, and which is registered in the seventh region: a modern inscription nearly opposite to the Palazzo Fiano preserves the memory of the monument here alluded to. It only remains to complete the circuit of the two regions, by continuing from the said Palazzo in the direction of the Corso up to the Via Marforio; and as the column of Antoninus warns us from encroaching upon the ninth region, not improbably was the Via Flaminia a common limit to the seventh and ninth regions, as a part of the Corso now is to two of the modern Rioni. It may easily be imagined that, where the modern city has left few or no traces of ancient Rome, the difficulty of topography must necessarily be increased; but, in a closer survey of the district thus marked out, we shall continually acquire some accessions of evidence so as to render the whole more clear and satisfactory. The two regions in question can only be separated from each other by the outline of the Quirinale hill, as 2 See Dissertation V. 3 Consult Nolli's great plan of Rome; and see Bernardini de' Rioni di Roma, p. 145. & 157. it was traced from the tower of the Campidoglio. Within the space we have now delineated, and which cannot be much less than four miles in circuit, there were, according to Rufus, fifty-two streets, with the usual proportion of private baths, fountains, and work-houses; the number of plebeian habitations, or insulæ, was 6890, and of great houses 265. There were also seventeen temples, of which four only were in the Via Lata: but, whatever idea we may conceive of the pristine magnificence of the sixth and seventh regions, it is probably now eclipsed by the splendour of the modern city. We shall begin our circuit with the sepulchre of C. Poblicius Bibulus, situated at the north-east extremity of the Capitoline hill, and at the bottom of the Via Marforio. This is one of the few remaining monuments of the republic; and the only matter it has ever afforded for discussion is, whether it was originally within or without the walls of Rome. We have already had occasion to observe, how difficult it would be to adopt the former opinion: for, if an instance or two may be cited of persons buried within the walls *, there is certainly not one on record of a sepulchre being within them; nor was Bibulus the only person who was buried at the foot of the Capitoline hill. This simple inscription, which records the virtue and public honour of a Roman magistrate, informs us nothing as to the period at which he lived, nor of the achievements for which he gained the praise of the republic. In 4 Vide Onuphrio Panvinio, apud Grævium, tom. iii. p. 291.; and Pancilori, Descript. Urb. Rom. ibid. p. 347. 5 See Dissertation II. * See Note A, at the end of the Volume. |