In the time of the early kings the City of Rome was represented by the Palatine only. It was at first divided into two parts, one inhabited, and the other called Velia, and left for the grazing of cattle. It had two gates, the Porta Romana to the north, and the Porta Mugonia--so called from the lowing of the cattle--to the south, on the side of the Velia.
Augustus was born on the Palatine, and dwelt there in common with other patrician citizens in his youth. After he became emperor he still lived there, but simply, and in the house of Hortensius, till, on its destruction by fire, the people of Rome insisted upon building him a palace more worthy of their ruler. This building was the foundation-stone of "the Palace of the Cæsars," which in time overran the whole hill, and, under Nero, two of the neighbouring hills besides, and whose ruins are daily being disinterred and recognised, though much confusion still remains regarding their respective sites. In A.D. 663, part of the palace remained sufficiently perfect to be inhabited by the Emperor Constans, and its plan is believed to have been entire for a century after, but it never really recovered its sack by Genseric in A.D. 455, in which it was completely gutted, even of the commonest furniture; and as years passed on it became imbedded in the soil which has so marvellously enshrouded all the ancient buildings of Rome, so that till within the last ten years, only a few broken nameless walls were visible above ground.
"Cypress and ivy, weed and wallflower grown Matted and mass'd together, hillocks heap'd On what were chambers, arch crush'd, columns strown In fragments, choked-up vaults, and frescoes steep'd In subterranean damps, where the owl peep'd, Deeming it midnight:--Temples, baths, or halls? Pronounce who can; for all that Learning reap'd From her research has been, that these are walls.-- Behold the Imperial Mount! 'Tis thus the mighty falls."
How different is this description to that of Claudian (de Sexto Consulat. Honorii).
"The Palatine, proud Rome's imperial seat, (An awful pile) stands venerably great: Thither the kingdoms and the nations come, In supplicating crowds to learn their doom: To Delphi less th' inquiring worlds repair, Nor does a greater god inhabit there: This sure the pompous mansion was design'd To please the mighty rulers of mankind; Inferior temples rise on either hand, And on the borders of the palace stand, While o'er the rest her head she proudly rears, And lodged amidst her guardian gods appears."