The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-08-05
SPAD|NGRONE' SR|JNS
Ancient Forum Is Gradually
Coming to the Light.
FAMOUS NIGER Laps"
Its Value in Connection With
the Explorations.
NIGER Laps"


Cambridge. Mass, July s5.-The wofk
begun so auspiciously some months ago in
the Roman Forum has provided contin-
ually Increasing interest during the
months that have passed since my last
account of It. Literally, from one end to
the other Of the space dug over by prev
ious excavators, things not only new but
of permanent value to scholars have been
brought to light. Inscriptions, vases, frag-
ments of sculptuee and architecture have
all given a quota to the total result.
In front Of the temple Of Antonius and
Faustina the earth has been cleared away
to depth Of four feet. and the brick core
Of four more steps of the temple is now
visible. This core is Of two parts, each or
iginally supporting two marble steps. Dr.
rectly opposite and on the other side of
the Via Sacra, the clearing process has
revealed to US three steps, nine inches in
height but Of unequal width, that des-
cended from the Regia to the road. Sig
nor Boni has long desired to determine the
upper reach Of the Sacred Way, and as
sisted by the discovery Of these steps and
by that Of a sewer below the road where
It runs between the Temple and the Re-
gia. his Efforts have terminated in sue
cess. The sewer is large arched passage
stretching its long-drawn curves. of well
built opus reticulatum, from the north
east westward. Along the pebly bed
flows a small brook. It Is evidently one
Of the original water courses of the For
UNI walled in and turned to serve the
uses of man. The view along the messy
walls, fecked here and there with the
sunlight shot through the openings from
above, with the little brook flowing just
where 1t flowed two thousand years ago.
is really very pretty.
1t is natural to suppose that this sewer
ollowed the original lines Of the road,
and on this hypothesis Signor Bonlli set
to work diging on the south side Of the
Basilica of Constantine, and there, some
six feet below the surface, found a fine
pavement of carefully jointed polygonal
blocks, similar to the bit by the temple of
Saturn. This is unquestionably the pave
ment OF the Sacred Way. It Will not be
hard to continue this line of exploration
and ascertain the course Of the way to-
ward the east.
in this region another monument that
has assumed a very different aspect from
Of old is the arch of Fabius. The we'll
known pieces, discovered several years
ago. lay heaped carelessly together. They
have been Joined with others lately found,
and, now, with only one rtwo youssoirs
missing; the arch hes In orderly and in
telligible fashion on the ground. Neither
the side piers nor the basement have been
found, so that reerection is out of the
question, but the spread of the arch can
be measured with an acracy sufficient for
all practical purposes It turns out to be
larger than was imagined by those who
up to this time have written on the sub
ject. Though the exact spot where the
arch stood has not been determined. its
position was probably close to the roughly
built chamber nearly opposite the temple
Of Romulus. One reason for thinking this
to be the spot is, that most Of the re-
naming portions Of the arch were found
here. Another reason Is that the astern
wall Of the brick chamber just mentioned
is constructed in part Of the remains Of
the wall of an earlier structure, in which
are still visible two narrow openings, like
loopholes, which suggest that this was or
iginally a guard house. It is possible
that these seeming loo-holes are only win
dows, but 1t seems unlikely that in this
part of the Forum there could have been
any building other than one Of distinctly
public use.
After the work on the Vesta Temule was
comuleted, both topographic and historic
reasons pointed to the Regia as the next
building to demand the explorers atten-
ton. First, between the two buildings a
system OF hypocausts, at present unac-
counted for, was found and cleanded up.
Then the foundation of the northern wall
of the temenos of the Vesta Temule were
laid bare. as we'll as those of the walls OF
the Regia. Several early drains built by
laying fiat slabs of tufa on perpendicular
side pieces, dixie the drain near the top
of the Scala Caci on the Palatine) were
met with during the work, but no small
objects Of value were found. Two inter-
esting wells were discovered and cleared.
One Of these, about three feet in diameter,
Is near the southeast corner of the Regia.
Through some misunderstanding, this has
unfortunately been identified in the Lon
don Times and elsewhere as the Puteal
Libonis. This il can hardly be. for It is
a simple well. whereas the Puteal Libonis
was no well at all, but a monument SINH
lar to a well kerb set over a spot struck
by lightning. Students must take note
too. that the description 1 nthe Times
of the deails OF this we'll is quite inaccu-
rate. 1t has no mouldings of any sort
and the pedaroli OF which the writer
speaks are not architectural members OF
any sort, but merely small holes cut in
the sides of the we'll to give support to
the hands and feet of person who had
occasion to descend the we'll They are 10
a well what the rungs are to a ladder.