Cicero Ad Atticum (iv. 15) informs us that Julius Cæsar commenced a
septa in the Campus Martius for the Comitia Centuriata and Tributa. It
consisted of a beautiful building of marble, surrounded with a portico
a mile square. It adjoined the Villa Publica. It was completed by
Lepidus the triumvir, and dedicated by Agrippa (Dion Cassius, liii.
23). Frontinus (Aq. xxii.) says the arches of the Aqua Virgo ended in
the Campus Martius, in front of the Septa.
The Comitia Centuriata, when the people assembled in their military
order, to elect their highest magistrates, to pass their laws, and to
vote upon peace or war, always met outside the walls in the Campus
Martius.
Comitia Tributa, for less important magistrates, tribunes, and ædiles,
met sometimes in the Campus Martius.
The Septa consisted of pens (hence the name), into which the tribes
passed to record their votes, which were given by ballot. Every voter
received a _tabella_ (tablet), on which he wrote the name of the
candidate for whom he voted. He then dropped it into an urn.
Near by, Agrippa built the Diribitorium, a large building used for
distributing and counting the ballot tickets. It was dedicated by
Augustus (Dion Cassius, lv. 8; Pliny, xvi. 40). During a fire Claudius
passed two nights here (Suetonius, "Claudius," xviii.).
These ruins extend under the Doria Palace, and have nothing to do with
any house. There were no houses on the Campus Martius in Paul's time.
(See page 197.)
_Just beyond, on the same side of the way, is_
THE DORIA PALACE GALLERY (Palazzo Doria),
_open on Tuesday and Friday from 10 till 2. Catalogues in each room.
Fee, half-franc._
FIRST ROOM contains four sarcophagi. A picture of the Deluge, by
Scarsellino.
SECOND ROOM.--4. Caritas Romana, by Valentin. (See page 191.) 24.
Madonna and Child, by F. Francia. 28. Annunciation, by Lippi. 33. S.
Agnese, by Guercino.
FOURTH ROOM.--Bust of Leo X., Doria.
FIFTH ROOM.--17. Money-Changers, by Quentin Matsys. 25. S. Joseph, by
Guercino.
SIXTH ROOM.--13. Madonna, by Carlo Maratta. 30. Sketch of a Boy.
SEVENTH ROOM.--8. Belisarius in the Desert, by Salvator Rosa. 19.
Slaughter of the Innocents, by Mazzolini.
FIRST GALLERY.--3. Magdalen, by Annibale Caracci. 9. Holy Family, by
Sassoferrato. 14. A Titian. 20. Three Ages of Man, by Titian. 25.
Flight into Egypt, by Claude Lorraine. 45. Madonna, by Guido Reni. 50.
Holy Family, by Giulio Romano.
SECOND GALLERY.--6. Madonna, by Francia. 14. Bartolo and Baldo, by
Raphael. 24. Calvin, Luther, and Catherine, by Giorgione. 40.
Herodias, by Pordenone. 50. Confessor, by Rubens. 53. Joanna of
Arragon, School of Leonardo da Vinci. Bust of Andrea Doria. 80. Wife
and Self, by Titian.
THIRD GALLERY.--5. Landscape, by Claude Lorraine. 12. The Mill, by
same, a most extraordinary complication. 18. Pietà, by Caracci.
CABINET OF GEMS.--1. Portrait of a Letterato, by Lucas van Leyden. 2.
Andrea Doria, by Sebastiano del Piombo. 3. Giannetto Doria, by
Bronzino. 4. S. Philip Neri, by Barocci. 5. Innocent X., by Velasquez.
6. Entombment, by John Emelingk. Bust of Lady Mary Talbot.
_Proceeding down the Corso, we reach the Piazza di Venezia. On the
left_ is the Tolonia Palace, and _on the right_ the Venetian Palace
(now the Austrian Embassy), a building of the middle ages. _On the
right-hand side of the narrow street, in a line with the Corso, Via
Morforio, is the_