(_Porta Maggiore._)
Here the Via Prænestina diverged from the Labicana; and Claudius, who
was obliged to convey two new streams--the Aqua Claudia and the Anio
Novus--over these roads, erected for this purpose a massive gateway,
which spanned both roads at once with a double arch. This is the
splendid monument afterwards taken into the Aurelian Wall, in the time
of Honorius and Arcadius, and converted, by the erection of a mound
in front, into a kind of bulwark. It now forms one of the city gates,
under the name of the Porta Maggiore.
In each of the three piers supporting the attics with the channels
concealed in the interior is a small gateway, over which a window,
with a gable roof resting on rustic pillars, is introduced. By this
arrangement, not only is a saving of materials effected, but the six
construction arches thus acquired impart a greater degree of stability
to the structure.
[Illustration: PORTA MAGGIORE.]
The first inscription on the aqueduct of Claudius mentions the streams
conveyed into the city by the emperor upon these arches. From it we
learn that the water in the channel which bore his name was taken from
two sources,--the Cæruleus and the Curtius, forty-five miles off; and
that the Anio Novus, which flows above the Aqua Claudia, was brought
hither from a distance of sixty-two miles. The second inscription
relates to the restorations of Vespasian; the third to those of Titus.
This gateway is the earliest specimen of the rustic style. It was
named, by those going out, by which arch they passed through on their
way either to Labicum or to Præneste. Coming in, they called it by the
hill to which they were going. "After I had said that he entered by
the Cœlimontane Gate, like a man of mettle he offered to lay a
wager with me that he entered at the Esquiline Gate" (Cicero _v._
Piso).
Directly in front of the middle pier of the Porta Maggiore lies a
monument, discovered in the year 1838, on the removal of the mound
referred to. It is