DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61893#0390
362
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. X.
work, by erecting· the temple of Jupiter Fere-
trius; Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius, and
Tarquini us Superbus continued, and the Consul
Horatius Pulvillus, a few years after the expul-
sion of the kings, completed it, with a solidity
and magnificence, says Tacitus, which the riches
of succeeding ages might adorn, but could not
increase. It was burnt during the civil wars
between Marius and Sylla, and rebuilt shortly
after; but again destroyed by fire in the dread-
ful contest that took place in the very Forum
itself, and on the sides of the Capitoline Mount,
between the partisans of Vitellius and Vespa-
sian*. This event Tacitus laments, with the
spirit and indignation of a Roman, as the greatest
disaster that had ever befallen the city.j* And,
indeed, if we consider the public archives, and of
course the most valuable records of its history
were deposited there, we must allow that the
catastrophe was peculiarly unfortunate, not to
Rome only, but to the world at large.
* A. D. 69.
+ Id facinus post conditam Urbem luctuosissimum foedissi-
mumque populo Romano accidit: nullo externo hoste, pro-
pitiis, si per mores nostros liceret, diis, sedem Jovis Jovis
optimi maximi, auspicatoa majoribus pignus imperii, conditam,
quam non Porsena deditA Urbe, neque Galli capta, temerare
potuissent, furore Principum exscindi ’
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. X.
work, by erecting· the temple of Jupiter Fere-
trius; Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius, and
Tarquini us Superbus continued, and the Consul
Horatius Pulvillus, a few years after the expul-
sion of the kings, completed it, with a solidity
and magnificence, says Tacitus, which the riches
of succeeding ages might adorn, but could not
increase. It was burnt during the civil wars
between Marius and Sylla, and rebuilt shortly
after; but again destroyed by fire in the dread-
ful contest that took place in the very Forum
itself, and on the sides of the Capitoline Mount,
between the partisans of Vitellius and Vespa-
sian*. This event Tacitus laments, with the
spirit and indignation of a Roman, as the greatest
disaster that had ever befallen the city.j* And,
indeed, if we consider the public archives, and of
course the most valuable records of its history
were deposited there, we must allow that the
catastrophe was peculiarly unfortunate, not to
Rome only, but to the world at large.
* A. D. 69.
+ Id facinus post conditam Urbem luctuosissimum foedissi-
mumque populo Romano accidit: nullo externo hoste, pro-
pitiis, si per mores nostros liceret, diis, sedem Jovis Jovis
optimi maximi, auspicatoa majoribus pignus imperii, conditam,
quam non Porsena deditA Urbe, neque Galli capta, temerare
potuissent, furore Principum exscindi ’