The basalt paving stones of this road are well preserved. On the right hand proceeding towards the northern angle of the hill lie a number of fragments of ancient houses, among which were probably the house bought by Clodius and that of Cicero. These houses appear to have looked down upon the Forum, since Cicero speaks of raising his house in order to exclude Clodius from the sight of the city which he had hoped to destroy.[2] Other houses of the Roman nobility of the later republican times were probably placed on this side of the Palatine, in order to be near the Forum and the places of political and social meetings.[3] [Sidenote: Porta Romanula.] The Museum in which are collected the various fragments of statuary and antiquarian interest which have been found in the late excavations on the Palatine has been placed in the ground-floor of the casina which stands near the Clivus Victoriæ. The ancient road is then overreached and arched over by the extensions of the Palatine imperial palace built by Caligula, under which it passes to the site of the ancient Porta Romanula.[4] Most of the chambers on the left were probably occupied by the guards of the gateway, and the graffiti they contain are of a character which confirms this supposition. Outside the Porta Romanula the road bends round the hill along the side which looks towards the Capitoline. The first ruins to be seen under the slope of the hill here are the remains of a portico of the republican era, constructed of tufa with reticular-work facings. This portico has been supposed to be possibly that which Lutatius Catulus built after his victory over the Cimbri in the Area Flacciana, mentioned by Valerius Maximus and by Cicero as being near his house.[5] But there seems to be nothing left which can identify this ruin with the Porticus Catuli. [Sidenote: Area Flacciana.] Beyond this so-called Area Flacciana the line of walls presents some projecting masses, which appear to be built upon the ancient substructions of towers such as would be formed in fortified buildings. A great part of the walls erected here in imperial times were built of concrete framed and supported by beams and planks of timber. These beams having now rotted away, have left their impressions on the concrete, and hence the vertical and horizontal grooves which form so conspicuous a part of these walls. Two remarkable fragments of antiquity must be noticed here. The first is a conical aperture in the side of the hill which supplied a cistern placed below with water. Such cisterns are to be found elsewhere in the hills, and may be supposed to have been constructed previous to the great supplies of water having been brought by the aqueducts.