We may learn from the erection of the Column of Phocas, in A.D. 608,
that the Forum was then unencumbered with soil. Rome having been at
that time deserted for a long period by its emperors, its principal
monuments began to fall into decay, the Romans themselves hastening on
the work for the sake of the marble; the steady hand of time, allied
with the luxuriant vegetation, working slowly but surely, added to the
_débris_; whilst deposits from the Tiber floods, the wind, and the
wash of the rain-shed, helped still more to fill in the valleys.
During a long course of years Rome was almost abandoned; the streets
remained unswept, and the rubbish of the city collected upon them. At
length a new life sprang up, and to the dust of ages was added the
refuse of building materials for the new city, till in the year 1650
we have the Forum presented to us on a level with the modern streets,
under the name of the Campo Vaccino (the Cow-field); and thus was the
Forum filled up. Such are the fluctuations of worldly splendour!
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE ROMAN FORUM]