Friday 22 February 2019

ILLINC...

Here is the other side of Julius' view, according to Martial (4.64.18-24):
On the other side [ILLINC], the driver on the Flaminian and Salarian Way lies in plain sight, although the car is hushed, so its wheels don't disturb a sleep so tranquil that bosuns' calls and shouting barge-haulers could not rouse you from it -- no matter that the Milvian Bridge is so close by, and the shipping that scuds down holy Tiber...
From Monte Mario, there is a good view down to the Milvian Bridge. Calling it 'so close by' (tam prope) might be poetic licence:


-- but it's there, clear enough, off to the left. My old iPhone might make it look further than it is (or seems to the naked eye).

If Julius is on Monte Mario, ILLINC now looks to be a pretty narrow segment off to the left of the available field of view. HINC, though, takes in a much wider sweep. From the Alban Hills at the extreme right of the view, off in the south-eastern distance, HINC swivels through Rome's iconic heart ('the seven imperious hills'), takes in what's straight ahead of the belvedere terrace (Anna Perenna across the river) -- and continues northward, to the left, to Fidenae and Rubrae. These two ancient settlements straddle the modern GRA, Rome's orbital motorway: Fidenae on the Via Salaria just inside it (not far past the old city airport), Rubrae a little outside it on the Flaminia.

It's not simply that HINC and ILLINC get seriously unequal shares: HINC doesn't respect ILLINC's boundaries. Draw a sightline to Rubrae (modern Saxa Rubra) or Fidenae from Monte Mario and they are to the left of Ponte Milvio, which is supposed to be in ILLINC.

What's more, Martial's description makes it clear that Julius' hilltop villa captures a bird's-eye view over both of those roads. Its height insulates it from the rattle of the carts, he says, but visitors strolling on the villa's terrace can make out individual traffic: you can see the drivers. It's a stretch beyond poetic licence to imagine Martial sipping an aperitivo and spotting individual hauliers queuing for the Milvian Bridge on Via Flaminia. As for the Salaria, not a chance. That exits Rome further East.

JULIUS MARTIAL'S VIEW DOES NOT WORK FROM MONTE MARIO.

IT PROBABLY DOES NOT WORK FROM ANYWHERE.

Is this a problem?

No comments:

Post a Comment