"Fastidiosam desere copiam, et
Molem propinquam nubibus arduis:
Omitte mirari beatæ
Fumum et opes strepitumque Romæ."
Od. iii. 29.
Mæcenas bequeathed his villa to Augustus, and Tiberius at one time resided in it.
Another, though less well-known poet of this age, who lived upon the Esquiline, was Pedo Albinovanus, much extolled by Ovid, who lived at the summit of the Vicus Cyprius (probably the Via Sta. Maria Maggiore), in a little house:
"Illic parva tui domus Pedonis
Cælata est aquilæ minore penna."
Martial, x. Ep. 19.
Near this was the Lacus Orphei, a fountain, in the centre of which was a rock, &c., surmounted by a statue of Orpheus with the enchanted beasts around him. The house of Pedo was afterwards inhabited by Pliny. On Septimius, as the furthest slope of the Esquiline towards the Viminal was called, lived Maximus—of whom Martial says:—
"Esquiliis domus est, domus est tibi colle Dianæ,
Et tua Patricius culmina Vicus habet:
Hinc viduæ Cybeles, illinc sacraria Vestæ,
Inde Novum, Veterem prospicis inde Jovem."
Mart. vii. Ep. 72.
Only the northern side of the Esquiline is now inhabited at all; the southern, and by far the larger portion, is clothed with vineyards and gardens, sprinkled over with titanic masses of ruin. On most parts of the hill, one might imagine oneself far away in the country. According to Niebuhr, the dweller amid the vines of the Esquiline, when he descends into the city, still says, "I am going to Rome."
Nero (A.D. 54—68) purchased the site of the villa of Mæcenas, and covered the whole side of the hill towards the Carinæ with the vast buildings of his Golden House, which also swallowed up the Cœlian and a great part of the Palatine; but he did not destroy the buildings which already existed, and "the Golden House was still the old mansion of Augustus and the villa of Mæcenas connected by a long series of columns and arches."[260] Titus (A.D. 79—81) and Trajan (A.D. 98—117) used part of the same site for their baths, and the ruins of all these buildings are now jumbled up together, and the varying whims of antiquaries have constantly changed the names of each fragment that has been discovered.
The more interesting of these ruins are on the southern slope of the Esquiline towards the Coliseum, and are most easily approached from the Via Polveriera. They are shown now as the Baths of Titus, or Camere Esquiline, and occupy a space of about 1150 feet by 850. That the chambers which are now visible were to be seen in the time of Leo X. (1513—22) we learn from Vasari, who says that Raphael and Giovanni da Udine were wont to study there and copy the arabesques to assist their work in the Vatican Loggie. After this, neglect and the falling in of the soil caused these treasures to be lost till 1774, when they were again partially unearthed, but they were only completely brought to view by the French, who began to take the work in hand in 1811, and continued their excavations for three years.