Domitian ordered the gallants of Cornelia, the president of the Vestal Virgins, to be whipped to death with rods in the Comitium.
A line of seven brick bases for honorary statues occupies one side; the edge of the paved area marks the top; the remains of a row of shops, destroyed by Signor Rossa in 1872, the bottom. The line of the modern road on the right was called
THE JANUS.
This was the Roman Exchange, where the money-changers transacted their business, and must not be confounded with the Temple of Janus already mentioned; nor must it be thought that there were a series of arches here, as some authors have supposed. Horace says (Sat. ii. 3), "Since all my fortunes were dissipated at the middle exchange" (Janus). Again (Ep. i. 1), "O citizens, money is to be sought first; virtue after riches. This is inculcated from the top to the bottom of 'change." He here distinguishes the summus, medius, and imus, or the top, middle, and bottom of the exchange.
SHRINE OF VENUS.
Having thus pointed out the principal buildings of the Forum, we will descend to its level, and identify some of its historical sites.
At the left-hand corner of the Vicus Tuscus and the Via Sacra, a brick pedestal marks the site of the Shrine of Venus Cloacina, erected in commemoration of Tarquin making the Cloaca Maxima. Cloacina comes from cluere = purgare, to purge.
THE DEATH OF VIRGINIA.
