[Sidenote: Pedestal of equestrian statue.]
In the centre of the Forum traces of the base of a large pedestal can be discerned, and this is supposed to have been the position of the equestrian statue of Domitian described at length by Statius, who says in the first poem of his 'Silvæ' that an equestrian statue of Domitian stood at the north-western end of the Forum, looking towards the other end. It was a triumphal statue erected in honour of Domitian's campaigns against the Catti and Daci. The poet describes its position very accurately, mentioning the Heroon of Julius Cæsar which faced it, the Basilica Julia on the right, the Basilica Paulli on the left, and the temples of Concord and Vespasian behind. The Temple of Saturn is omitted for some unknown reason. Statius also alludes to some other principal objects in the Forum, the Temple of Vesta, the Temple of Castor, and the statue of Curtius. He concludes with prophesying that the statue will outlast the eternal city.[47] It seems, however, probable, as Mr. Nichols in his admirable book on the Forum has said, that the statue was removed after Domitian's death, when his memory was execrated, or was dedicated to a succeeding emperor, and that the statement of Herodian about the dream of Severus, who imagined that he saw an equestrian statue in the Forum, a colossal representation of which remained there in the historian's time, may refer to this pedestal.[48]
Two of the most interesting monuments which have been brought to light by the recent excavations in Rome were discovered in 1872, near the base of the column of Phocas, where they have been re-erected. They consist of marble slabs, sculptured with bas-reliefs and forming low screens. Each screen is constructed of slabs of unequal size, and some of these have been unfortunately lost. Their original position has been restored as nearly as possible, and they stand parallel to each other in a line crossing the area of the Forum. On the inner sides of both of these sculptured screens, the sacrificial animals, the boar, sheep and bull, always offered up at the Suovetaurilia, are represented.
The other sides, which are turned outwards, represent scenes in the Forum, and are commemorative of some public benefaction of one of the emperors, probably Trajan or Hadrian. On one of them Italia is represented thanking the emperor for establishing some "alimenta publica," public relief institutions, and for apportioning lands to encourage needy parents to rear their children. Such relief funds and lands intended to supply the defective population of Italy were first established by the Emperor Nerva, and afterwards by Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, and are frequently commemorated on medals, and mentioned by the historians Dion Cassius and Aurelius Victor, and the authors of the Augustan history.[49] The emperor is represented in a sitting posture, and stretching out his hand towards a child presented by a woman in the character of Italia, who apparently holds another child ready for presentation. Behind the emperor's seat is the fig-tree called Navia or Ruminalis, which is said to have grown near the rostra, and also the figure of Marsyas which stood in the same place. At the other end of this sculptured scene stands a speaker with a roll in his hand, addressing a crowd of citizens from a rostrum, which may perhaps represent the publication of the edict establishing alimenta.