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144 ANTIQUITIES IN THE MUSEUM AT PALERMO. For some time the mosaics remained in situ, only protected by a shed (tettoja), and were much injured by exposure to rain ; they were, therefore, removed for better preservation to the National Museum, where they are now accessible to visitors. 1 No account has been given of this building either by writers contemporaneous with the probable date of its erection, or by those who flourished subsequently. Hence, a wide door stands open for the conjectures in which Italian archaeologists have freely indulged The Abate Di Marzo sees here the Aula Regia mentioned by Falcando as being under the new palace of the Norman Kings. Signor Pitre, agreeing with the French and German authorities, assigns the edifice to Roman times ; he considers that it was originally public, but afterwards applied to private uses ; he also expresses an opinion that it was once the palace of the Quaestors. 2 This last notion seems improbable, as under the Republic there were two Quaestors for Sicily, one residing at Lilybaeum, and the other at Syracuse ; which was obviously a convenient arrangement, because these two places were remote from each other. I believe there is no mention of a Quaestor at Panormus (Palermo), nor was the city sufficiently important at this period to require the presence of such an officer. 3 Signor Starabba endeavours to refute Di Marzo's opinion, remarking that the extent of the monument excavated does not correspond with the place in which William I. assembled the people, and still less with the vast structure that, according to the Arabic historian — Ibn Giobair—included a hall of Council, residences for courtiers, a Roman amphitheatre, etc. 4 Professor Basile, in a memoir recently published by the Academy of Science, Literature and Art at Palermo, has considered this building almost exclusively from an architectural point of view. M. Aube's plan being defective, 1 Sull'antico edifizio della Piazza cseus. An interesting narrative of his Vittoria in Palermo Memoria del Socio, administration of the province and return Prof. G. B. F. Basile, p. 3. thence to Rome will be found in Middle- 2 Prof. Basile, ib. p. 6. ton's " Life of Cicero," vol. i, 65-69. 3 Cicero, In Verrem, Act. ii, lib. ii, c. 4, 4 The Norman Ugo Faleando has s. 11. Quaestores utriusque provinciae, described the Palace of the Arabian qui isto praetore fuerant, cum fascibus Emirs at Palermo ; see a quotation from mihi praesto fuerunt. Cf. Pro Plancio his writings in Gregorovius, " Siciliana," xxvi, 64, 65. Cicero served as Lilybaean p. 132. Quaestor under the Praetor Sextus Pedu-
FROM BASILE, SUL ANTICO EDIFIZIO NELLA PIAZZA VITTORIA, PALERMO.
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