Little Work on the Wonders of the New and Old City of Rome

ON THE MONUMENTS OF THE CITY

Calpetanus Rantius Quirinalis Valerius Festus, curator of the banks and bed of the Tiber, marked the boundaries nearest to the banks original: "terminauit R.R. Prox." referring to the Ripas Romae, the banks of Rome. These men were officials responsible for managing the flood-prone Tiber. There was also a bridge in the Campus Martius near Monte Citorio original: "montem citatorium" which Suetonius mentions when he discusses the plans of the conspirators against Caesar: they first hesitated whether, in the Campus Martius during the assemblies original: "comitia" when calling the tribes to vote, they should divide into groups and throw him off the bridge original: "e ponte deiicerent", and having caught him, slaughter him; or whether they should attack him on the Sacred Way or at the entrance to the theater The "bridge" in this context refers to the pontes, the narrow wooden gangways that voters crossed to cast their ballots in the Roman Republic.

There was, moreover, a marble bridge in the Roman Forum extending from the Palatine all the way to the Capitoline; nothing in the whole city was more magnificent than the aforementioned bridge, which Gaius Caligula original: "C. callicula" built and joined to the Capitoline.

Bridge of Caligula?

Indeed, eighty huge carved marble columns supported it. But of that structure, only six columns are seen today: three are visible at the base of the Palatine Hill, and another three at the Capitoline. Not far from these, many marbles were excavated this year, along with a huge marble base on which was this inscription carved in a circular form: namely,

original: "VICENNALIA IMPERATORVM"; this refers to a festival celebrating the twentieth year of an emperor's reign

On the other side, however, were seen sculpted priests sacrificing a bull.

Outside the city is the Mulvian Bridge Ponte Milvio, also called the Milvian, on the Flaminian Way, two miles from the city. It was built by Aemilius Scaurus, and it is where the tyrant Maxentius was defeated by Constantine. Above the Aniene River original: "Anienem" there are four bridges: the first is the Salarian Pons Salarius, the second the Nomentan Pons Nomentanus, the third the Mammean Pons Mammeus, and the fourth the Lucanian Pons Lucanus.