THE ROMAN FORUM (Il Foro).

(The new excavations are open to the public every day without fee.

To understand the Roman Forum and its surroundings, visitors should attend the lectures given on the spot by the author of these Rambles, descend with him to its level, and examine each remaining object in detail; thus they may learn something of the buildings and the history that crowded on its space. For particulars, apply at 93 Via Babuino, Rome.

Mutilated fragments still speak of the former grandeur of the spot, dead men of its fame, and living authors of its past and present history.

In these Rambles we shall only treat of the most important and present remains, which are classed in the order in which they should be visited, and not chronologically.

The real foundation of the ancient city has long been covered over by the heaping up, during ages, of earth, stones, rubbish, &c., to the depth of thirty feet. The thick crust had lain untouched by shovel during the long series of popes; especially was this, until recently, the condition of the Roman Forum. The latter is to be entirely excavated, and the removal of the superincumbent earth is at this present moment being made with a vigour never before attempted.

In short, the Forum is dressed up in quite a new attire, and many old visitors would scarcely recognize it in its modern garb. Crowds of spectators lean against the barriers every day, anxiously reviewing the carting of the earth, and awaiting for artistic valuables to "turn up."

The picturesqueness of the crowds, of the costumes and scenery, the variety of language and nationality, the past associations, all go to make up a spectacle quite unique.

We will follow the modern road, which crosses the Forum, and turning to the left, proceed along the side of the Basilica Julia to the Temple of Castor and Pollux, where a flight of steps gives access to the Forum.

Standing upon the platform of the temple, we propose to explain the various buildings that surrounded the Forum, and then to descend to its ancient level to examine the chief points of interest.

The word forum, in its simple signification, means market-place; and the Roman Forum was the market-place when Rome consisted of but two hills, the Palatine and Capitoline. It soon lost its primitive use, and became the centre of the religious, civil, and political life of the Romans. Then other market-places were formed, and called after the principal commodity sold therein. In the time of Cæsar the Forum was found too small, and then was commenced the first of the Imperial Fora. The Forum, from the time of Constantine, gradually fell into decay, and was finally ruined in the year 1084, when Robert Guiscard, the Norman chief, burned all Rome from the Lateran to the Capitol.

HOW THE SOIL ACCUMULATED.

We may learn from the erection of the Column of Phocas, in A.D. 608, that the Forum was then unencumbered with soil. Rome having been at that time deserted for a long period by its emperors, its principal monuments began to fall into decay, the Romans themselves hastening on the work for the sake of the marble; the steady hand of time, allied with the luxuriant vegetation, working slowly but surely, added to the débris; whilst deposits from the Tiber floods, the wind, and the wash of the rain-shed, helped still more to fill in the valleys. During a long course of years Rome was almost abandoned; the streets remained unswept, and the rubbish of the city collected upon them. At length a new life sprang up, and to the dust of ages was added the refuse of building materials for the new city, till in the year 1650 we have the Forum presented to us on a level with the modern streets, under the name of the Campo Vaccino (the Cow-field); and thus was the Forum filled up. Such are the fluctuations of worldly splendour!

PLAN OF THE ROMAN FORUM.
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EXTENT OF THE FORUM.

The Forum was not, as many have supposed, a building, but an open space surrounded with buildings, the whole forming the Forum. It was 260 yards long, and 55 yards wide at the bottom. The top, under the Capitol, was 140 yards wide. The temples were built on lofty platforms (podia), to give them a more commanding appearance.

THE ROMAN FORUM, LOOKING TOWARDS THE CAPITOLINE HILL.