ed, for the purpose of shedding light upon the parts of Roman
history connected with Julius Caesar, the hero of his book. In spite of
much opposition from the Papal Government, the work of exhumation was
continued in fits and starts after the French emperor had given it up;
and ever since the Italian Government have taken the matter in hand,
gangs of labourers under the directorship of the accomplished Signor
Rosa have been more or less continually employed, with the result that
almost the whole area has been laid bare from the Capitol to the Arch
of Titus. The British Archaeological Society of Rome has given valuable
aid according to the funds in its possession, and the contributions
sent from this country for the purpose. When first commenced, the
changes caused by these excavations were regarded with no favourable
eye by either the artists or the people of Rome. The trees were cut
down, the mantle of verdure that for centuries had covered the
spot--Nature's appropriate pall for the decay of art--was ruthlessly
torn up, and great unsightly holes and heaps of _debris_ utterly
destroyed the picturesque beauty of the scene. But the loss to romance
was a gain to knowledge; and now that the greatest part of the Forum
has been cleared down to the ancient pavement, we are able to form a
much more vivid and accurate conception of what the place must have
been in the days of the empire, and are in a position to identify
buildings which previously had been a theme for endless and violent
disputes. It is a very interesting and suggestive coincidence that the
Forum of Rome should have been thus disentombed at the very time that
Italy rose from its grave of ages, and under a free and enlightened
government, having its centre once more in the Eternal City, proved
that it had inherited no small share of the spirit of the heroic past.

Let us go over in brief detail the various objects of interest that
may now be seen in the centre of Roman greatness. Numerous sources of
information exist which enable us to identify these monuments, and to
form some idea of what they were in their prime. Among these may be
mentioned coins and medals of the emperors, with representations upon
them of buildings and sculptures in the Forum; a marble stone found at
Ancyra, now Angouri in Phrygia, on which is a long inscription
regarding the acts and achievements of Augustus, which is of the
greatest value in determining the topography of the city; the
ba