of which are, however,
built up. Thirty-one great roads centered in Rome, which, issuing from
the Forum, traversed Italy, ran through the provinces, and were
terminated only by the boundary of the empire. As a starting point a
gilt pillar (Milliarium Aureum) was set up by Augustus in the middle of
the Forum. This curious monument, from which distances were reckoned,
was discovered in 1823. Eight principal bridges led over the Tiber: of
these three are still relics. The four districts into which Rome was
divided in early times, Augustus increased to fourteen. Large open
spaces were set apart in the city, called Campi, for assemblies of the
people and martial exercises, as well as for games. Of nineteen which
are mentioned, the Campus Martius was the principal. It was near the
Tiber, whence it was called Tiberinus. The epithet Martius was derived
from the plain being consecrated to Mars, the god of war. In the later
ages it was surrounded by several magnificent structures, and porticoes
were erected, under which, in bad weather, the citizens could go
through their usual exercises. It was also adorned with statues and
arches. The name of Fora was given to places where the people assembled
for the transaction of business. The Fora were of two kinds--fora
venalia, "markets," and fora civilia, "law courts, etc."

Until the time of Julius Caesar there was but one of the latter kind,
termed by way of distinction Forum Romanum, or simply Forum. It lay
between the Capitoline and Palatine Hills: it was eight hundred feet
wide, and adorned on all sides with porticoes, shops, and other
edifices, on the erection of which large sums had been expended, and the
appearance of which was very imposing, especially as it was much
enhanced by numerous statues. In the centre of the Forum was the plain
called the Curtian Lake, where Curtius is said to have cast himself into
a chasm or gulf, which closed on him, and so he saved his country. On
one side were the elevated seats or suggestus, a sort of pulpits from
which magistrates and orators addressed the people, usually called
Rostra, because adorned with the beaks of ships which had been taken in
a sea-fight from the inhabitants of Antium.

Near by was the part of the Forum called the Comitium, where were held
the assemblies of the people called Comitia Curiata. The celebrated
temple, bearing the name of Capitol, of which there remain only a few
vestiges, stood on the Capitoline Hill, the hig