Eustace, John Cretwode: A classical tour through Italy An. MDCCCII (Vol. 3): 3. ed., rev. and enl (London: J. Mawman, 1815)

Ch. V.

THROUGH ITALY.

185

crusting· brick walls with marble, a practice in-
troduced into Rome in the reiffn of Augustus,
by Cains Mamurra. Part of the walls of Athens
were formed of the same materials, as was the
palace of Croesus, that of Attains, and several
public edifices at Lacecraemon. Pliny goes so far
as to assert, that the Greeks preferred brick to
stone in great buildings as more durable, and
adds that brick walls, when the perpendicular
line is duly attended to, last for ever.
FORUMS.
We next come to the forums or squares, which
are represented by the ancients as alone sufficient
to eclipse the splendor of every other city.
There were two kinds of forums, the Fora Vena-
lia and the Fora Civilia. The former were
merely markets, and were distinguished each by
a title expressing the objects to which they were
appropriated, such as the Forum Boarium, Pis-
catorium. &c. of these of course, the number was
indefinite, though commonly supposed to be about
twelve. The Fora Civilia were intended, as the
name implies, for the transaction of public busi-
ness, and were five in number; the Forum Ro-
manum—D. Julii—Augusti—Nerme, frequently
called Transitorium and Trajani.