"Le sentiment d'effroi que la demeure féodale des Valérius causait, était pareille à celui qu'inspiraient aux Romains du moyen âge les tours des barons, que le peuple, dès qu'il était le maître, se hâtait de démolir. Valerius n'attendit pas qu'on se portât à cette extrémité, et il vint habiter au pied de la Velia. C'est le premier triomphe des plébéiens sur l'aristocratie romaine et la première concession de cette aristocratie."--_Ampère, Hist. Rom._ ii. 274. A little further on are three gigantic arches, being all that remains of the magnificent _Basilica of Constantine_, which was 320 feet in length and 235 feet in width. The existing ruins are those of one of the aisles of the basilica. There are traces of an entrance towards the Coliseum. The roof was supported by eight Corinthian columns, of which one, remaining here till the time of Paul V., was removed by him to the piazza of Sta. Maria Maggiore, where it still stands. This site was previously occupied by the _Temple of Peace_, burnt down in the time of Commodus. This temple was the great museum of Rome under the empire, and contained the seven-branched candlestick and other treasures brought from Jerusalem,[61] as well as all the works of art which had been collected in the palace of Nero and which were removed hither by Vespasian. A statue of the Nile, with children playing around it, is mentioned by Pliny as among the sights in the temple of Peace.[62] It was near this that the Via Sacra was crossed by the _Arch of Fabius_, erected B.C. 121, in honour of the conqueror of the Allobroges,--the then inhabitants of Savoy. Close to this portion of the Via Sacra also stood a statue of Valeria, daughter of Publicola, by whom the honours of the virgin Clœlia were disputed. Besides those which we have noticed, there is mention in classical authors of many other buildings and statues which were once crowded into this narrow space; but all trace of many even of those enumerated is still buried many feet below the soil. The modern name of _Campo Vaccino_, by which the Forum is now known, is supposed by some antiquaries to be derived from Vitruvius Vacco, who once had a house there. "La guerre aux habitants de Privernum (Piperno) rattache à une localité du Palatin.... Les habitants de Fondi avaient fait cause commune avec les habitants de Privernum. Leur chef, Vitruvius Vacca, possedait une maison sur le Palatin; c'était un homme considérable dans son pays et même à Rome. Ils demandèrent et obtinrent grâce. Privernum fut pris, et Vitruvius Vacca, qui s'y était réfugié, conduit à Rome, enfermé dans le prison Mamertine pour y être gardé jusqu'au retour du consul, et alors battu de verges et mis à mort; sa maison du Palatin fut rasée, et le lieu où elle avait été garda le nom de _Prés de Vacca_."--_Ampère, Histoire Romaine_, iii. 17.