Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-03-29

New ArchcOlO gical Discoveries in Rome
Temple of Julius Caesar.

Roman correspondence of the Lon
don At2,enaatns contains the following:
The excavations carried on by the
Italian government in front of the
Temple of Antoninus and Faustina-
which had hitherto proved utterly
fruitless yesterday FEB. 14) sig
nalized by rather important success.
The space which opened in front of the
temple, extending as far as those of
Castor and Pollux and Vesta, was occu-
pied, after the beginning Of the sixth
century, by private, unknown edifces,
built with materials stripped off from
the surrounding monuments of the I'M
perial Forum. On Saturday afternoon,
the workmen employed in clearing
away the rubbish filling up one Of the
more recent rooms, discovered square
block of marble, On which an interest
ing part Of the Fasti Consulares Capt.
tolini was engraved. The fragmen In
cludes the names of the Consuls from
the year 755 to 700; and so completes,
in the most unexpected way, one of the
existing columns of the Fast, which
begins with the year 761. The block of
marble belongs evidently to the base
ment Of a public building, the size Of
the letters being so small that it would
have been impossible to read them if
placed more than six or eight feet from
the ground. The opinion held almost
universally by topographers was that
the " Fast were engraved On the tenn
pie Of Castor and Pollux; but the re-
cent discovery makes more trustworthy
the supposition that they belonged to
the temple of julius Caesar, the re-
mains Of which stand within ten feet
of the spot where the block was
brought to light. The exploration was
resumed on Monday morning, and the
following monuments were obtained in
few hours:
1. A pedestal of statue, with follow
ing inscription: GARINvs vETTIvs PRO-
B1ANvs v(u) Ct Aaa1ssimaals) PRAEF ectas)
NRB (is) sTATvAM FATILI NECEssI-
TATE CONLABsAM CELEBERRIMO vRBIs
LOCO ADHIBITA DILIGENTIA REPARA-
W.T.. Gabinius Vettius Probianus, prse-
feet of Rome at the beginning Of the
fifth century, is well known for the care
he bestowed upon the preservation of
works of art, injured in one way or an
other. When the Basilica Julia was
discovered, many years ago, other in
scriptions were found stating the same
fact, but with the addition of the name
of the sculptor, such as oPvs PoLYCLITI
-OPvs TIMARCHI-OPvs PRAXTELIs, etc.
The words, "fatii necessitate conlap-
SAM" mean that the statue had been
overthrown by an earthquake, as the
expression "fatili igni absumptum +" in
Dictated struck by lightning.
2. Another pedestal of an imperial
statue. The principal inscription,
which contained the name of the En-
peror, has been carefully obliterated.
But on the right side are engraved the
names Of those at whose cost the mon
ument was raised. They are subprse-
fectus and a centurio of cohort, which
is not identified; but, considering that
in the organization of Roman troops
only the cohortes Vigilum" had a
subprefectus, it is almost certain that
those officers belonged to t. e body Of
the fremen. The photography of the
letters is that of the first part Of the
third century; this implies that the En-
peror whose memory was condemned,
and whose name was consequently eff
faced, is P Septimius Geta, great
benefactor of Roman firemen.
8. A third colossal pedestal of mar
BILE, which lies still more than half bur-
led under the rubbish; and SO still
keeps the secret Of it's history and its
destination.