despot, and not for the public good, only procured them commiseration. The vast space cleared by the fire afforded Nero the opportunity of building a still more extravagant palace than the first, to which, from its richness and splendour, he gave the name of AUREA DOMUS, or the golden house. It is difficult to form any very precise idea of this palace from the descriptions in ancient authors. It may be conjectured, however, that it occupied all that height on which the Temple of Venus and Rome and the convent of Sta. Francesca Romana now stand; and it seems probable that this hill itself may in a great degree have arisen from the remains of the palace, and from the earth excavated to make the lake behind it. In such a position the front of the palace would naturally have been turned towards the Forum and Capitol, and this inference is confirmed by some accounts which we find in ancient authors. Suetonius mentions that the colossal statue of Nero, which was 120 feet high, stood in the vestibule of the palace, and we learn from Dion Cassius2 that Vespasian in his sixth consulate (A. D. 75), when he dedicated his Temple of Peace, caused the colossus, which must not have been far from the precincts of that temple, to be removed and set up on the Sacra Via, which ran at the back of the palace. Vespasian's motive for changing the situation of the statue probably was that it might face the main entrance of his amphitheatre, the plan of which must have now been laid, though it was not perfected till some years afterwards. Pliny, who saw the colossus in the atelier, says that it was 110 feet high, so that Suetonius probably included the base. It was the work of Zenodorus, a celebrated artist, and is said to have been a striking likeness of Nero.3 Dion Cassius, who speaks only from hearsay, calls its height 100 feet. Hadrian, 1 The principal are Suet. Ner. 31; Mart. De Spect. ii. 2 lxvi. 15. 3 Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 7, § 18. when he built his Temple of Venus and Rome, removed the colossus a few yards further to the north,1 where its base may still be seen, in order probably that it might not interfere with the façade of his structure; but it still stood close to the amphitheatre and on the Sacra Via. When Martial described this locality, the colossus stood where it had been placed by Vespasian, and where Nero's atria had formerly been : Hic ubi sidereus propius videt astra colossus Et crescunt media pegmata celsa via, Unaque jam tota stabat in urbe domus.2 The back front of the palace thus looked towards the lake which Nero had caused to be made in the valley afterwards occupied by the Flavian amphitheatre; the water was supplied by the Claudian aqueduct and Anio Novus, which, as we have seen, he had caused to be prolonged over the Cælian Hill. It appears to have been conducted over the ARCH OF DOLABELLA, near the Piazza della Navicella; which, as we learn from an inscription on it, was erected in the consulship of Dolabella and Silanus, A. D. 10; but the purpose of it has never been satisfactorily ascertained. Round about the lake were sprinkled clusters of buildings which resembled cities, and, if the perspective had been duly observed and the size of the buildings regulated accordingly, we may imagine that this would have given an appearance of great extension to the water, and would have formed no mean attempt at landscape gardening, if such an expression may be allowed. Beyond the lake the declivities of the Calian and Esquiline were converted into fields, vineyards, pastures, and woods, filled with a multitude of cattle and wild beasts. The imperial domains are said to have been comprised in three porticoes each a mile long; which circuit would have comprehended the Esquiline, part of the Cælian, and the Palatine. The house itself was adorned with gold, gems, and motherof-pearl. The cœnationes or dining-rooms had movable ivory ceilings, carved like flowers and provided with pipes, so that perfumes might be sprinkled from above. The principal coenatio was circular, and turned night and day like the earth. The baths were provided with seawater and water from the Albula, whose sulphureous properties were much esteemed. When this palace was completed, Nero was in a good degree contented, and he condescended to remark that 'he had at last begun to live like a man.'1 In fact he had engrossed nearly the whole city, and contemplated changing its name to Neropolis. Hence an epigram of those days: Roma domus fiet: Veios migrate, Quirites, Si non et Veios occupat ista domus. But he had also formed the insane project of enlarging the city in proportion, by extending its walls to Ostia, and bringing the sea into the old city by means of a canal.2 It should not however be omitted that Nero did something for the convenience of the people, as well as for the gratification of his own vanity, by building some baths, the THERME NERONIANE, near those of Agrippa. They were afterwards enlarged and improved by Alexander Severus; from whom they derived the name of THERMÆ ALEXANDRINÆ, by which they are mentioned in the Notitia. He also founded a market, supposed to be that called MACELLUM MAGNUM, on the Cælian Hill, near the Temple of Claudius. We are not surprised to hear that, by his extravagance in building, accompanied with an equal extravagance in feasting and all kinds of debauchery, he had at length exhausted even the means which the empire of the world placed at his disposal, so 1 Suet. Nero, 31. 2 Ibid. 16. 4 Dion Cass. lxi. 18; Notitia, Reg. ii. 3 Regio ix. that he could not even pay his troops, and was at length reduced to rob the temples, and melt down the gold and silver images of the gods, among them those of the Dii Penates. Want of money no doubt hastened his fall; for the troops, who would have stood by him had they been well paid, were easily persuaded to proclaim the insurgent Galba emperor. Nero was compelled to fly, and with irresolute hand at length succeeded in inflicting a mortal wound upon himself in the house of his freedman Phaon, a few miles from Rome (A. D. 68). He was permitted to have a sumptuous funeral, and his ashes were deposited in a family tomb of the Domitii upon the Collis Hortorum, or Pincian Hill.1 Such was the end of the last of the Cæsars. The short and turbulent reigns of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius contribute but few materials towards a history of the city. Galba lost the empire by his niggardliness, as Nero had done by his extravagance. The latter was unable to provide the pay which he owed his troops; the former was unwilling to give the donative which he had promised them. After a reign of half a year, Galba was supplanted by Otho, who, being disappointed of succeeding to the throne by adoption, resolved to seize it by force. But he dissembled to the last. On the very day that his plot was to be executed, he attended upon Galba in the palace, by whom as usual he was saluted with a kiss. He assisted at a sacrifice made by Galba, during which the haruspex warned the emperor of a domestic enemy; and then, pretending that he was wanted by an architect and some builders, but who were in reality soldiers whom he had appointed to meet him at the Milliarium Aureum, under the Temple of Saturn, Otho slipped out by the back part of the palace through the Domus Tiberiana into the Velabrum, and so proceeded to the place of rendezvous. Here he was saluted em 1 Suet. Ner. 50. peror by some two dozen soldiers, and was then conducted to the prætorian camp, being joined on the road by about the same number. The news of the sedition soon reached the ears of Galba, and filled him with trepidation. It also spread through the city, and the palace was soon filled with a rabble clamorously demanding the death of Otho and the conspirators; though in truth they did not care a straw about the matter, and only amused themselves by making a noise, as if they had been in the circus or theatre. After long hesitation Galba determined to proceed to the Forum; and as, on account of his old age, he could not bear the pressure of the crowd, he was carried in a chair. But the insurrection of the soldiers was now complete. Some advised Galba to return to the palace, some to seek the Capitol, others to mount the Rostra. In truth, however, he was no longer master of his actions. A dense crowd had filled the Forum and the adjacent Basilica and temples; a crowd not violent or noisy, but silent, sullen, and curious to see the issue. Galba was swayed to and fro at the mercy of this living mass, and could do nothing but obey its impulse. A body of cavalry arrives at the charge, and soon clears the Forum. Those who were carrying Galba let him fall in the middle of it, close to the Lacus Curtius, where he was soon despatched by the soldiers. Titus Vinius, consul with Galba, was slain before the Temple of Divus Julius; Piso Licinianus, whom Galba had adopted as his son, and consequently as his successor, only four days before, took refuge in the Temple of Vesta, where a public slave concealed him in his cell. But from this hiding-place he was dragged forth, and killed at the entrance of the temple.1 Otho, during his brief reign, seemed determined to adopt the acts of Nero, and is even said to have assumed his name. He caused Nero's statues to be re-erected, and 1 Tac. Hist. i. 27, 39-42; Suet. Oth. 6. |