Excavations in 1904 reveal an earlier date by four centuries, and place it in the time of Diocletian (A.D. 284).

COLUMN in Roman Forum, named in 1818 Column of Phocas.

"Tully was not so eloquent as thou,

Thou nameless column with the buried base."
- Childe Harold, Canto IV, stanza cx, p. 89.

And History, with all her volumes vast,

Hath but one page,

't is better written here

Where gorgeous Tyranny hath thus amass'd

All treasures, all delights, that eye or ear,

Heart, soul could seek, tongue ask. — Away with words,

draw near,

CIX

Admire, exult - despise - laugh, weep,- for here

There is such matter for all feeling :- Man!
Thou pendulum betwixt a smile and tear,
Ages and realms are crowded in this span,
This mountain, whose obliterated plan
The pyramid of empires pinnacled,

Of Glory's gewgaws shining in the van

Till the sun's rays with added flame were fill'd!

Where are its golden roofs ? where those who dared to build ?

CX

Tully was not so eloquent as thou,

Thou nameless column with the buried base! 1
What are the laurels of the Cæsar's brow?
Crown me with ivy from his dwelling-place.
Whose arch or pillar meets me in the face,

1 This column ceased to be "nameless" in 1818 when it received the name by which it has since been called- Column of Phocas. Archæologists in 1904, owing to explorations round the "buried base," have decided that it belongs to the time of Diocletian, A. D. 284, and not Phocas.

--

Titus' or Trajan's? No 't is that of Time:
Triumph, arch, pillar, all he doth displace
Scoffing; and apostolic statues climb 1

To crush the imperial urn whose ashes slept sublime,

CXI

Buried in air, the deep blue sky of Rome,
And looking to the stars. They had contain'd
A spirit which with these would find a home,
The last of those who o'er the whole earth reign'd,
The Roman globe, for after none sustain'd
But yielded back his conquests: he was more
Than a mere Alexander, and, unstain'd

With household blood and wine, serenely wore
His sovereign virtues - still we Trajan's name adore.

CXII

Where is the rock of Triumph, the high place 2
Where Rome embraced her heroes? where the steep
Tarpeian, fittest goal of Treason's race,

The promontory whence the Traitor's Leap
Cured all ambition? Did the conquerors heap
Their spoils here? Yes; and in yon field below,
A thousand years of silenced factions sleep-
The Forum, where the immortal accents glow,
And still the eloquent air breathes - burns with Cicero !

1 The statue of St. Peter supplants that of Trajan on the top of Trajan's column.

2 The temple of Jupiter probably stood on the southeast section of the Capitoline Hill, the present site of Palazzo Caffarelli.

Where is the rock of Triumph, the high place
Where Rome embraced her heroes?

Childe Harold, Canto IV, stanza cxii, p. 90.