It was not only a district near the Forum, but a prison, as the name
signifies, made out of stone quarries. It is first mentioned (B.C.
212) by Livy (xxvi. 27) in his account of the fire. Livy (xxxii. 26;
xxxvii. 3) says it was a place for the custody of hostages and
prisoners of war. When Q. M. Celer the consul was imprisoned there by
the tribune L. Flavius, Celer attempted to assemble the Senate in it
(Dion Cassius, xxxvii. 50); so we may infer that it was a large
building. The _Lautumiæ_ was _entirely distinct_ from the Mamertine
Prison.
_The church with the plain front, S. Adriano, and the house with the
green shutters, occupy the site of_