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CHAPTEE I
THE SOLILOQUIES OF AGRIPPINA
f
Orainus, cave despuas, ocelle,
Ne poenas Nemesis reposcat a te :
Est vehemens Dea ;
laedere hanc caveto.'
CATULL. Carm. L. 18-20.
THE Palace of the Csesars was a building of extraordinary
spaciousness and splendour, which had grown with the growing
power of the emperors. The state entrance was in the
Vicus Apollinis, which led into the Via Sacra. It was an
Arch, twenty-nine feet high, surmounted by a statue of
Apollo and Diana driving a chariot of four horses, the work
of Lysias. Passing the Propylsea the visitor entered the
sacred area, paved with white marble and surrounded by
fifty -two fluted columns of Numidian giallo antico, with its
soft tints of rose and gold. Between these stood statues
of the Danaides, with their father Danaus brandishing a
naked sword. In the open spaces before them were the
statues of their miserable Egyptian husbands, each reining
his haughty steed. Here, too, among other priceless works
of art, stood the famous Hercules of Lysippus, clothed in his
lion's skin and leaning on his club. On one side was the
Temple of Apollo, built of the marble of Luna, designed by
Bupalos and Anthermos of Chios. On the top of its pediment
was the chariot of Apollo in gilt bronze, and the great
bronze valves were incrusted with ivory bas-reliefs of the
triumph over Niobe, and the panic-stricken flight of the
Gauls from Delphi. Behind this temple was the shrine of
Vesta, and on the west side the famous Palatine Library,
large enough to accommodate the whole Senate, and divided
into two compartments, Greek and Latin. In its vestibule
was a bronze statue, fifty feet high, which is said to have
represented Augustus with the attributes of Apollo. 1
Lanciani's Ancient Rome in the
1
Xote 1. Palace of the Csesars. (See
light of Modern Discoveries, pp. 107-133.) For Notes see end of Volume.