Roman sculpture from Augustus to Constantine . he toga, stands with hissuite and his lictors on the Rostra, which is indicatedby three beaks of ships. He holds a roll in his lefthand and has evidently been making a proclamationwhich the group of citizens in the Forum below arereceiving with applause. The two foremost men raisetheir hands in approval ; a third man turns backeagerly, as if to communicate the news to those pressingforward from behind. There is a charming everydaytouch in the group of two men at the back, one ofwhom lays his hand familiarly on his companionsshoulder. The right hal
Roman sculpture from Augustus to Constantine . he toga, stands with hissuite and his lictors on the Rostra, which is indicatedby three beaks of ships. He holds a roll in his lefthand and has evidently been making a proclamationwhich the group of citizens in the Forum below arereceiving with applause. The two foremost men raisetheir hands in approval ; a third man turns backeagerly, as if to communicate the news to those pressingforward from behind. There is a charming everydaytouch in the group of two men at the back, one ofwhom lays his hand familiarly on his companionsshoulder. The right half of the composition explains the natureof the proclamation. It is a favour which the Emperorhas just bestowed, and it is commemorated by a statu-ary group on a plinth,* showing the Emperor on thesella curulh; and a woman with a child in her arms This is Petersens interpretation, op. cil. p. 134. , onthe other hand, thinks that these are living personages, the low platform is the Tribunal (c/. Class. Rev., March1905, p. 132).. THE PRINCIPATE OF TRAJAN 153 standing in front of him. This gi-oup is generallyacknowledged to represent Trajan with Ttalia, who isthanking him for the munificent measures of the year101 A,D. for the support of poor children. This bene-faction, says Dill,* was a bold and sagacious attemptto encourage Italian agriculture, to check the ominousdepopulation of Italy, and to answer the cry of thepoor. Being apparently on a great scale,f it soimpressed the popular imagination that it is no wonderto find it celebrated twice by a work of art in theForum alone—the balustrade relief and the statuarygroup shown upon it. The original group, or some other resembling it,might have given rise in the Middle Ages to the legendof Trajan and the Vedovella so touchingly narratedby Dante ( Purgatorio, x., 75, 76).! On turning to the relief which now faces theColiseum, we find ourselves within the same rangeof events, but the personal environment is dif-fere
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