The Statue was destroyed by the people after his death, and the base
of the pedestal is all we have left, standing upon the travertine
pavement of the Forum. It is interesting to archæologists as putting
to rest the arguments in reference to the names and positions of the
different buildings in the Forum. The poet Statius ("Silvæ," i. 1, 22)
describes the relative position of the different buildings and this
statue. He tells us that the statue was situated in the middle of the
Forum, near the Curtian Lake. In front of it was the temple of the
deified Julius; behind it were the Temples of Vespasian and Concord;
on one side the Basilica Julia, and on the other the Basilica Æmilia;
whilst the rider looked towards the Temple of Vesta and the Imperial
Palace.
[Illustration: MARCUS CURTIUS LEAPING INTO THE GULF.
(_Relief in the Villa Borghese._)]
Suetonius tells us that the tablet inscribed upon the base of
Domitian's triumphal statue was carried away by the violence of a
storm, and fell upon a neighbouring monument.
_A little beyond this pedestal, to the right_, are the remains of
another pedestal, a deep round hole recently closed, and beyond it a
third pedestal.
_Upon the first we will place_