Note 156 — NO. XXI.—ROME.

“After the fall of Rome,” says Vasi, “and particularly in the year 1084, when Robert Guiscard visited the city, this spot, so famous, was despoiled of all its ornaments; and the buildings having been in great part ruined, it has served from that time to our days as a market for oxen and cows, whence is derived the name of Campo Vaccino (cow-field), under which it was lately known. At the present day, however, it has lost that vile denomination, and obtained again the appellation of Forum Romanum.” Mr. Woods, however, says, that it was called Campo Vaccino, not as being the market, but as the place where the long-horned oxen, which have drawn the carts of the country-people to Rome, wait till their masters are ready to go back again. Vasi is mistaken, in saying that “this vile denomination” has been lost; it never will be lost—it is too accurately descriptive—it tells the tale of degradation too well, not to last as long as the Forum remains. Nor would it be correct to call the space marked Campo Vaccino, in the modern maps of Rome, by the name of Forum Romanum,—or Foro Romano, to use the Italian form. The Campo Vaccino is a much larger space than the existing remnant of the ancient Forum; and though it is quite correct to call that remnant a part of the Campo Vaccino, yet to call the Campo Vaccino the Forum Romanum, would give rise to very incorrect notions concerning the limits and site of the ancient Forum.—Anon.