Another portion of the Domus Aurea is still visible at the Sette Sale, a large brick building lying in a vineyard to the left of the Via delle Sette Sale. The purpose of this was plainly to serve as a reservoir for water, and it is shown to have belonged to the Domus Aurea, and not to the Thermæ of Titus, by the correspondence of its position with the ground-plan of the former. It may have been afterwards used in connection with the Thermæ, and was possibly preserved with that view, while the rest of the palace was destroyed or buried. The peculiar construction of the interior, which is divided into nine compartments, communicating with each other by openings—not placed opposite to each other, but in a slanting direction across the building—is said to have been so arranged in order to prevent the heavy mass of water from bursting open the sides of the building. The group of the Laocöon was found near the Sette Sale, and it is supposed that the state-rooms of Titus may have contained that group of statues.
Thermæ or Baths of Titus.
Returning to the ruins of the Baths of Titus near the Coliseum it may be observed that these Thermæ were connected with the Coliseum by a portico, traces of which can still be seen on the north side of the amphitheatre. The arrangement of the building corresponded in some degree to that of the Baths of Caracalla, consisting apparently of a large square court surrounded by various offices and places for recreation, in the centre of which stood a vast mass of building containing the bath-rooms. The sides of this court were not parallel to any lines of building in the Domus Aurea, and, therefore, in order to form a level area many new substructions had to be erected. This is plainly the case with the theatre (A), which occupied the centre of the side towards the Coliseum. In order to raise this to the level of the rest of the area, the nine huge arched chambers, which are now a most conspicuous part of the ruins, were erected, and one of the courtyards of the Domus Aurea was filled, as we have seen, with parallel walls of brickwork. On each side of the theatre there were probably gymnasia, libraries, or ball courts (B B). The central building was occupied with the frigidarium and tepidarium, and the other usual adjuncts of a large Roman bath (C C C).
The catalogue called the ‘Curiosum urbis Romæ’ places not only the Baths of Titus but also those of Trajan in the third region. The anonymous MS. of Einsiedlen places Trajani Thermæ near the Church of S. Pietro in Vincoli; and Anastasius in his ‘Life of Symmachus,’ mentions them as near the Church of S. Martino. It is, therefore, abundantly proved that the Thermæ of Trajan stood at the back of the Baths of Titus, and it is here that we find them placed in the plan of Palladio. That they were distinct buildings seems clear from an inscription in which they are separately mentioned. A satisfactory explanation of the apparently strange fact that Trajan erected new and smaller Thermæ near those of Titus is given by one of the chronologers of the period, who speaks of the Baths of Trajan as intended for women, for whom there was no separate accommodation provided in those of Titus. The scattered ruins to the north of the Baths of Titus may have belonged to Trajan’s Baths.
On the Esquiline Hill, besides the Baths of Titus, the Domus Aurea, and the Sette Sale, we find four remarkable ruins, which are called the Trophies of Marius, the Arch of Gallienus, the Minerva Medica, and the Auditorium of Mæcenas.
Trophies of Marius.
The ruin called the Trophies of Marius stands at the corner of the Via di S. Bibiana. It consists in the lower part of a number of small and curiously shaped compartments of brickwork, with openings at seven or eight different points. Underneath these, and now hidden under the level of the ground, is a large basin or tank, and above them the upper part of the building is formed by the remains of three niches, in which stood the marble trophies now placed upon the balustrade of the steps of the Capitol. They were removed to the Capitol by Sixtus V. in the year 1585. The name Trophies of Marius is an attempt to explain the more ancient name of Cimbrum, which we find attached to the ruin in the middle ages, by identifying the trophies with the Tropæa Marii mentioned by Suetonius as having been pulled down by Sulla and restored by Julius Cæsar.[74] But although we must allow that there is some probability in the supposition that the Marian trophies may have occupied these niches, yet it is certain that the building itself was intended to serve another purpose, that of the castellum or principal reservoir of an aqueduct, with a public fountain in the form of a cascade in front. The basin which has been discovered under the building, and the peculiar shape of the complicated interior structure, can be best explained thus, and the remains of some part of the aqueduct itself may be seen at the back. It was at one time supposed that the Aqua Julia ended here but it is now generally acknowledged that the ruin belonged to the Aqua Alexandrina, and that the name Nymphæum Alexandri, found in the catalogues of the fifth region, must be assigned to it. The Alexandrine Aqueduct was built by Alexander Severus in the year A.D. 225. Water was brought to Rome by means of it from a spot near the Lake Regillus, and a portion is still visible on the left hand of the Via Labicana about two miles from Rome. The level of this aqueduct corresponds exactly with the building in question, and the style of brickwork and architecture are such as might belong to the third century. It is possible, as Reber remarks, that Alexander Severus may have found the exact spot where the Trophies of Marius had been placed by Julius Cæsar convenient for the castellum of his aqueduct, and have used the trophies to ornament the new building which he erected.
Arch of Gallienus.
Close to the Church of S. Vito, and spanning the Via di S. Vito, stands the Arch of Gallienus, erected by M. Aurelius Victor, prefect of Rome in A.D. 262, in honour of the Emperor Gallienus and Empress Salonina. It is constructed of travertine, and the ornamental work upon it is extremely simple, consisting only of pilasters crowned by roughly worked Corinthian capitals, and surmounted by an entablature of the commonest kind. Part of the basement is buried under the present level of the soil, and from a sketch by San Gallo of its state in the fifteenth century there appears to have been a pediment above the entablature, and two smaller archways on each side. The inscription, which is now hardly legible, is cut upon the architrave and contains a flattering description of one of the most singularly accomplished and incapable emperors of Rome, of whom Gibbon says, “Gallienus was a master of several curious but useless sciences, a ready orator and elegant poet, a skilful gardener, an excellent cook, and most contemptible prince.”[75]
Minerva Medica.