=236. The Basilica Julia, the Greatest Court House in Rome; the _Lacus Curtius_.=--The Basilica Julia on the southern side of the Forum is a building into which it is best to enter. The structure was begun by Julius Cæsar to meet the imperative need for a larger court house. More important business is transacted under its roof and ample porticoes, perhaps, than in any other building in Rome; and in bad weather nearly all the Forum loungers take refuge beneath its ample shelter. Its size is worthy of its important functions; it is 270 feet long and in addition to the regular exterior colonnade has a fine inner colonnade. [Illustration: INTERIOR OF A BASILICA: restored.] These double porticoes are the special lounging spots of fashionable idlers of both sexes. Young men of fashion seeking to meet congenial ladies of easy habits have only to loiter around and stroll about a little--their hopes are gratified. Assuredly Venus can hardly reckon up the love affairs that here have ripened. The pavements are even more marked up for gaming boards than elsewhere and some of the players, we note, actually wear the equestrian stripes, while there are senatorial laticlaves in the interested throngs standing around them. Along the sides of the building are roomy offices, where a large corps of city officials and clerks conduct the various municipal boards and bureaus. The glory of the Basilica Julia, however, is its great hall, used for the chief courts of justice, barring always those of the Emperor and the Senate. The hall is paved with colored marbles of price; the pillars running down either side are splendid monoliths of still rarer marbles, and the ceiling is heavy with gilt fretting and painting. In every possible niche rise statues of famous jurisconsults and advocates. The light streams down abundantly through the windows in the upper clerestory, and in this second story at the present moment there are standing or sitting groups of very respectable men and women listening to the orator pleading before one of the tribunals below. Any guide will tell how the mad Emperor Caligula used to delight to stand in these upper balconies, fling down money, and roar with delight when the crowds trampled one another struggling to get the coins.