Architectural Museum Of The Roman Tabularium.

the approach through which the Vitelian faction entered the capitol in the assault against Vespasian's party . That portal indeed may still be distinguished in its outline , with an arched head , filled up by masonry , behind the temple ' s ruins . In that civil conflict , A . D . 69 , the Tablularium was fired , its archives burntand the princile edifices in the

, p capitol , including the great Temple of Jupiter , consumed . Vespasian placed in this building , that seems to have been mainly preserved from the flames ( owing to its powerful construction no doubt ) , copies of the 3000 bronze tablets , senatus consults , and plebiscita instead of those lost , dating from the city ' s earliest

historic origin ; and then ensued the dedication of the new temple to Jupiter , attended with the utmost pomp , and all the ceremonial of ancient worship , as fully described by Tacitus ( I . iv . c . 53 ) . A second time destroyed by fire , soon after Vespasian's death , it was again restored , with greater magnificence , by

Domitian , the gilden alone at a cost of 12 , 000 talents , above 2 g- millions sterling . We enter the Tabularium from the western side ot the palace under the fortifie cations of Nicholas V ., passing through an antiquingress with horizontal lintel , in the same massive stonework as the front towards the Forum ; here

indeed partly repaired , though in much the greater part retaining its huge quadrate blocks firm and uninjured by the lapse of nineteen centuries . The long dim-lit corridor we are now admitted into shows the singular effects of the action of salt iu corroding its masonry , so that the wall-surfaces resemble strata of rocks , rough and rugged , rather than a structure of stonework . A certain sense of awe is created by the massive architecture , so hoarily antique , the

longdrawn perspective , and solemnized tone of the interior , We learn that the corridor where we now stand , on the upper story above the Forum , served for communication between the two cl ' wi of the Capitoline Hill , and was therefore paved with polygonal lava blocks , of which Nibby discovered , in 1830 , some remnants

( see his JRotna Anticci ); that the a ? ararium ( or treasury ) , a public library , and halls for declamation , were connected with this edifice , besides the national archivum for which it specially served . Before examining the architectural antiques now deposited here , one can scarce conceive of the exquisite

delicacy , the elaborate fantasies , and variety of invention bestowed by the Romans on the adornment of their public buildings . Most beautiful among these fragments are the great frontispieces from the temples of Vespasian and of Concord , restored , under the direction of Caninaand with admirable skillbfour

, , y marble-cutters , who spent eight years on this task . In the cornice and frieze of the Vespasian Temple the egg moulding is mostly new ; the mensola ? ( very graceful ) are almost entirely antique ; the rosettes entirely so , and remarkable in being all different in design as well as unequal in scale . On this frieze are

au interesting illustration of the sacrificial worship , reliefs of the several implements and sacred vessels , patina , aspergillum , Flamen's galera , & c . The frontispiece of the Concord Temple required a fuller restoration than the other ; but is so ably accomplished that , as it stands before usits effect is of surpassing grace

, and richness ; its frieze having an ornamention chiselled in parallel leaf-like forms , concave , surmounted by a cornice of acanthus foliage ( antique , except one only of the sculptured plants ) ; each pair ,

in the graceful series , divided by a long upright Ian " ceolute leaf , rather like the aloe . From the Julian Basilica we see a massive plain cornice bearing the words , iu large letters , LIYIA . Uxon—AAJG . MATESevidently to honour the wife of Augustus , during the reign' of Tiberius , her son ; likewise from the same ruinsthe fragment of a coffered ceiling with rosettes

, , and lion's head projecting outwards ; a Corinthian capital , restored most carefully from numerous pieces , the upper part only antique , and curious in the detail of a ram ( the costode calls it a goat ) , couchant at each angle , to support the abacus . Permission may be obtained from the municipality for copying any of

these antiques ; and the students of the French Academy have made drawings , we understand , from most of them . The selection and restoring of all this museum ' s contents were confided to Canina . From this lower corridor we ascend to a higher one , of similar extentand parallel with thisreached by a

, , staircase whose lowest and seven uppermost steps are ancient , of travertine , the walls and vaulting above being tuto , in small blocks , laid with a good deal of cement , the surfaces left quite rough , as if for incrustation , in hewn stonework . At the summit of the stairs is a finely-built brick archway , the work of

Michelangelo . In that higher corridor the masonry is like that of the passage through which we ascend , but adorned by columns now built into brick pilasters , for security ; so that we see nothing of the marble incrustation the custode reports about . Hence , through archways fenced by railing , we look into an outer range , a third corridor , also parallel , corresponding to the front of the municipal palace immediately above , and said to be the site where the historic Fasti

were deposited . Near the western extremity of the central corridor are the entrances to two chambers and a staircase , discovered in 1850 , by Canina , The custode ( an intelligent specimen of his class ) bailing been an eye-witness , describes interestingly the scene when the great archaeologist , relying on sure authoritiesmeasured by paces the length

, of the corridor up to this point , where he desired the workmen to begin ; and the task of breaking through the ancient walls proved so difficult that fourteen days passed before they could penetrate into the chamber above the stairs . Through the narrow gap then made we enter this quadrate chamber , in

profound darkness , and see by torchlight a gaping abyss , where the staircase descends under horizontal vaulting of most massive construction in travertine , similar to that of the walls around us , formed in enormous squared blocks , without cement . This vault is a striking example of the Etruscan stle

y followed by the Eomans in their architecture till a comparatively late period ; and , when the custode lowers bis torch , the effect of the lurid light on that stupendous masonry , the sense of mystery , aud the historic associations , so impress , that , on a first A'isit , it seemed to us as if no other scene in Rome brought

before the mind with more vivid reality to tragic catastrophes described by Tacitus , in whose pages is the graphic narrative of the fierce struggle , the principal scene of which is before us—the assault and taking of the Capitol by Vitellius ' s soldiers , and the conflagration that ensued . We cannot now descend this stairscase ; but its foot was reached , and the depth explored , when first opened , on which occasion were found a number of ivory styli , different in shape