"The senate house in which he was slain was ordered to be shut up, and a decree was made that the ides of March should be called parricidal, and that the senate should never more assemble on that day" (Suetonius, "Cæsar," lxxxviii.).
After making the circuit of the seats of the theatre, the Via Chiavari leads to the Church of S. Andrea delle Valle, built on the site of Pompey's senate house.
On the marble plan of Rome, in the Capitoline Museum, a fragment shows Pompey's theatre, portico, and senate house. With the given remains of the theatre and the plan it is easy to find the site of the Curia, which is shown on the plan in the form of a basilica: this will bring the curve exactly at the apse of the Church of S. Andrew. Now, we are told that Cæsar was seated in the chair where in the morning Brutus dispensed justice, so he was, no doubt, seated on the tribunal; and as the tribunal of the church and curia exactly correspond,
HERE CÆSAR FELL!
The cupola of the church is one of the finest in Rome; the four evangelists, at the angles, are by Domenichino.
From here we retrace our steps down the Via Chiavari, crossing the Via Giubbonari, passing, on our left, the Monte di Pietà (Uncle to Rome); turn to left Via Pettinari; the first turning on the right leads to the Piazza Capo di Ferri. On the left, decorated with statues, is the Spada Palace. In the vestibule of the law court, upstairs, is
THE STATUE OF POMPEY,
at whose feet great Cæsar fell.
"There was a statue of Pompey, and it was a work which Pompey had consecrated for an ornament to his theatre."
"Either by accident, or pushed hither by the conspirators, he expired at the pedestal of Pompey's statue, and dyed it with his blood" (Plutarch).