Parker, John Henry: The archaeology of Rome (1,text): I. The primitive fortifications (Oxford [u.a.], 1874)

62

Primitive Fortifications.

[chap. i.

This passage is usually interpreted to apply to the agger of Servius
Tullius, but the road to Gabii was by the Porta Esquilina and
through the Porta Prtenestina or Labicana, a mile away from that
agger. Fz observed before, the great agger of Servius Tullius ceases
by its junction with the cliffs of the Esquiline Hill. But across the
valley which runs between the Esquiline and Coelian, and along
which the Via Labicana passes, there must have been a bank of
some kind and a gate. The remains of a fortress, which seems to
have been originally a sort of horn-work of the time of the Kings to
defend the entrance to the valley, is at the south-east corner of the
Esquiline, and very distinct; the wall on one side is supported by
a series of niches11, or arched recesses, as usual. This semi-detached
fort appears to have been to protect the gate between the Esquiline
and the Coelian, which was placed in the agger across this valley.
To complete the line of fortifications round the city of this
period, the north side must also be described. The inner agger
extends northward nearly to the Circus of Sallust, where the fortifi-
cation turns short round to the west, following a cliff, with a wide
and deep foss in front of it, in which the Circus of Sallust was made.
At this corner there was a horn-work to protect the Porta Collina;
the ancient part of the road now called the Via di Porta Pia, passes
through this agger at a low level, with banks on each side supported
by walls. Near the west end of the Circus the cliff makes a sharp
angle to the south for a short distance, on which point a villa has
been builtb; under this the large stones of the Wall of the Kings can
also be seen against the cliff, behind the shrubs. The line of the
cliffs then turns again to the west, following the course of the Quiri-
nal Hill, with the same wide and deep foss between the cliff and the
Pincian, with the outer wall upon it. The cliff has everywhere been
faced with a wall of the Kings, and this wall has in most parts been
rebuilt or refaced in the time of the early Empire, and often again
at later periods, to support new buildings on the upper level. Here
a piece of the old wall of the time of the Kings can be seen through
a hole in the back of the brick arcade which is built up against it.

a It is however possible that the
great Golden House of Nero, and that
the porticus a mile long, may have
meant an arcade, which is one meaning
of the word. There are remains of an
arcade against the western cliff of the
Esquiline in many places. The distance
from the vestibule on the Palatine is
just a mile. These niches may have
been used for a series of shops, or may
have been used for the tabernse, or

taverns. They are now made use of for
a cabaret, or wine-shop, and afford a
convenient shady retreat for taking
a luncheon in the heat of the day when
visiting the Lateran, which is close at
hand, or S. Maria Maggiore, which is
not far distant, this corner of the Esqui-
line being situated in the street which
leads from one to the other, called the
Via in Merulana.
b Now the villa of Mr. Spithoever.