DOMUS : AUREA

167
hominem tandem habitare coepisse. The landscape gardening of the
great park in which the buildings were set is also emphasised by
Tacitus (Ann. xv. 42 : in qua haud perinde gemmae et aurum miracuio
essent . . . quam arva et stagna et in modum solitudinum hinc silvae,
inde aperta spatia et prospectus, magistris et machinatoribus Severo
et Celere). Cf. Seneca, Ep. xiv. 2. 15.
The area occupied is further defined by Martial (de spect. 2), who
is writing in praise of Vespasian
Hie ubi sidereus propius videt astra colossus
(See Colossus Neronis : sidereus simply means ‘ glittering.’)
et crescunt media pegmata celsa via,
(perhaps the scaffolding for the erection of the arch of Titus : 1 the
usual explanation of the line—HJ 17—to mean that the machinery
of the amphitheatre was stored in the ruins of the vestibule of the
Golden House is unsatisfactory—why media via ?)
invidiosa feri radiabant atria regis
(the atrium stood on the summit of the Velia)
unaque iam tota stabat in urbe domus.
[This is an echo of the epigram quoted by Suetonius, Nero, 39 :
Roma domus fiet: Veios migrate, Quirites,
si non et Veios occupat ista domus;
cf. also Plin. NH xxxiii. 54 ; xxxvi. ill ; Tac. Ann. xv. 43.]
Hie ubi conspicui venerabilis amphitheatri
erigitur moles, stagna Neronis erant.
Hie ubi miramur velocia munera thermas,
[Titianas, q.v.J
abstulerat miseris tecta superbus ager.
Claudia diffusas ubi porticus explicit umbras,
ultima pars aulae deficientis erat
(i.e. the domus Aurea extended no further over the Caelian than the
site of the temple of Claudius (q.v.), which was begun by Agrippina,
destroyed by Nero, and built anew by Vespasian ; v. Suet. Vespas. 9).
That it did not extend beyond the Subura on the north is clear from
the fact that the temple of Tellus and the portico of Livia continued
to exist ; while on the east the horti Maecenatis, already the property
of the imperial house, formed its natural boundary.
According to Hiilsen’s estimate the area thus included amounted
to about 125 acres, while that of the Vatican, including the garden and
S. Peter’s with its piazza, is about 75 acres. Rivoira, however, puts
1 If ‘ pegmata ’ can bear this sense. If not, ' constructed ’ would perhaps be a better
equivalent of ' crescunt ’—in the sense that there was now room for workshops for making
pegmata ’—than ' stored ’ or ‘ piled.’