[7] “I am of opinion that this hill did not belong to the Aventine: I have heard this at Rome from a man, in whom I do not place much confidence; he may perhaps have read it somewhere: there is so much that is indifferent in books, that we often pass over that which is of importance because we imagine it to be indifferent.” [8] _Lect. on Rom. Hist._, vol. i. p. 60, 3d edit. [9] Respecting this flight of steps, however, see Urlichs in the _Beschreibung der Stadt Rom._ vol. iii. 2, p. 373, and the same author in his _Beschreib. Roms_, p. 256. [10] v. § 153, ed. Müller, who, however, gives his own conjecture _ad muri speciem_ instead of the common reading _a muri parte_. The MSS. have _a muris partem_.—ED. [11] In one set of notes, the following passage occurs on p. 53, after the word “necropolis,” line 17 from foot, and may perhaps be introduced here: “There was no road between the Aventine and the river; outside the Porta Collina, Esquilina, Caelimontana, and Carmentalis no enlargement of the city could take place.”—ED. [12] Compare Bunsen in the _Beschreib. der Stadt Rom_, i. p. 646, foll. [13] Some MSS. here have a name, which seems to suggest the _Porta Pia_. Bunsen says, “at the juncture of the street of the Porta Pia with the street of Porta Salara” (_Beschreib. d. Stadt Rom_, i. p. 625).—ED. [14] See the _Beschreib. der Stadt Rom_, iii. 1. p. 490. [15] Compare above, p. 58. [16] I have supplied this name, the MSS. containing something which is evidently quite misunderstood.—ED. [17] Comp. _Hist. of Rome_, vol. iii. p. 304, note 518. [18] “I will mention only one example, to show how rich the Roman gildings were. In the Forum of Trajan the letters of an inscription were cut into the rock, and the letters themselves consisting of gilt metal were sunk into the openings. This is the method according to which the letters of inscriptions were generally put. In others the bronze letters were nailed to the wall, traces of which are still visible on the triumphal arch at Nismes, and French scholars have very ingeniously attempted from these holes of the nails to make out the whole inscription. In the Forum of Trajan a bronze letter has been found, the gilding of which was valued at a ducat; all the rest had of course been carried off as plunder.” [19] See, however, the _Beschreib. d. Stadt Rom_, iii. 1. p. 22, foll. [20] In one MS. the words “the Curia” are here added; is perhaps the Curia Julia meant?—ED. [21] _Fast._ i. 707; some MSS. have Dionysius.—ED. [22] _Calig._ 22. I owe this reference to the kindness of Professor Urlichs, who further observes: “Niebuhr was thinking of this passage, and combines two facts contained in it, for Suetonius does not expressly say, that the arch built by Caligula passed over the temple of Castor.”—ED. [23] Bunsen in the _Beschreib. der Stadt Rom_, Pref. xl., iii. 2. p. 33.—ED. [24] Compare Bunsen, _l. c._ Pref. p. xxiix.—ED.