ste, for the wall not only occupies a good
position, but is really a double line of defense. There are here two
walls, one above the other, the upper one nineteen feet back of the
lower, thus leaving a terrace of that width.[45] At the east, instead of
the lower solid wall of opus quadratum, there is a series of fine tufa
arches built to serve as a substructure for something. It is to be
remembered again that between the arches on the east and the solid wall
on the west is a stretch of 200 feet of opus incertum, and a space where
there is no wall at all. This lower wall of Praeneste occupies the same
line as the ancient wall and escarpment, but the most of what survives
was restored in Sulla's time. The opus quadratum is exactly the same
style as that in the Tabularium in Rome.

Now, no one could see the width of the terrace above the lower wall,
without thinking that so great a width was unnecessary unless it was to
give room for a road.[46] The difficulty has been, however, that the
line of arches at the east, not being in alignment with the lower wall
on the west, has not been connected with it hitherto, and so a correct
understanding of their relation has been impossible.

Before adducing evidence to show the location of the main and triumphal
entrance to Praeneste, we shall turn to the town above for a moment to
see whether it is, a priori, reasonable to suppose that there was an
entrance to the city here in the center of its front wall. If roads came
up a grade from the east and west, they would join at a point where now
there is no wall at all. This break is in the center of the south wall,
just above the forum which was laid out in Sulla's time on the level
spot immediately below the town. Most worthy of note, however, is that
this opening is straight below the main buildings of the ancient town,
the basilica, which is now the cathedral, and the temple of Fortuna. But
further, a fact which has never been noticed nor accounted for, this
opening is also in front of the modern square, the piazza Garibaldi,
which is in front of the buildings just mentioned but below them on the
next terrace, yet there is no entrance to this terrace shown.[47] It is
well known that the open space south of the temple, beside the basilica,
has an ancient pavement some ten feet below the present level of the
modern piazza Savoia.[48] Proof given below in connection with the large
tufa base which is on the level of the lower terrace will