still remains, with a marble entablature now supported by pillars
of brick, stood in front of these apartments. The walls are covered
with all kinds of sketches (graffiti, done with the stilus), drawings,
and sentences, the most numerous and the best-preserved of which
are in the small dark rooms to the right and left of the circular
recess, which is alone now accessible. The caricature of the Cru-
cifixion, mentioned at p. 236, was found here. The phrase 'exit de
pædagogio' occurs frequently and has suggested the present name
of this building. As a matter of fact, however, these rooms were
probably prisons, euphemistically described by their inmates as
a 'pædagogium', and the building itself belonged to the offices of
the imperial dwelling. The real Paedagogium, or school for the
imperial slaves, who, like those of all the wealthier Romans, received
a careful education, was situated near the church of Santi Giovanni
e Paolo (p. 336).
About 3 min. farther on is a modern house, on the front of
which is a bust of Francesco Bianchini (d. 1729), distinguished for
his researches on the Palatine. Here, in its ancient position,
stands an altar (Ara) of travertine, with an ancient inscription ('sei
deo sei deivae sacrum', etc.), 'dedicated to an unknown God' and
probably re-erected in 100 B.C. by the prætor Sextius Calvinus.
Then to the right, on the W. margin of the hill, is a fragment of an
ancient wall, constructed of blocks of tufa placed alternately length-
wise and endwise, without mortar. This is usually described as
part of the original wall of the Roma Quadrata (p. 314), but more
probably belongs to some substructions of a later period of the
Republic. Behind it is a grotto, erroneously supposed to be the
Lupercal, reverenced in antiquity as the cave in which Romulus
and Remus were suckled by the she-wolf. The true Lupercal, which
existed even in the imperial epoch as a grotto embellished with
sculptures and monuments, must have lain much lower down, at
the base of the N. summit of the hill.
Hence we proceed, past the church of San Teodoro, to the exit.
e. Velabrum and Forum Boarium.
The modern Via San Tisdoro (Pl. II, 19), leading to the S.
along the W. side of the Palatine, approximately follows the line
of the ancient Vicus Tuscus (p. 298), which was the principal
artery of traffic between the Forum and the Tiber. To the left is
the low-lying round church of San Teodoro (Pl. II, 19; open on
Frid. till 9 a.m.; see also p. 165). It is first mentioned in the time
of Gregory the Great, and was erected on the substructures of an
antique building. In the interior is an early-Christian mosaic of
the 7th century.
Farther on the Via di San Giorgio in Velabro (Pl. II, 16 19)