However, as the years went on, the number of citizens not only became greater, but so much space was taken up by statues and columns, placed there to men whom the city desired to honour that the living crowd of to-day would hardly move in and out among the marble multitude of yesterday.

So Cato, one of the chief magistrates, wishing to please the Romans, and to make more room in the Forum, built a basilica, which he placed near the Curia, and called the Basilica Porcia, after his family name Porcius. Now this sort of a building was new in Rome, and greatly delighted the people; and its porticos, giving shelter from the sun and from sudden showers, soon became the favourite place of meeting and amusement. After the success of the Porcia, several other basilicas were also built in the Forum. The first of these was the Basilica Fulvia, made near the silversmiths' shops, and close by the Temple of Janus; then followed the Basilica Sempronia, placed near those shops which were on the north side of the Forum; and, some time later, the Basilica Opimia was built, near the Temple of Concord. Each of these basilicas was erected by some one of the chief magistrates, and was called after the family of its builder. The name of the Fulvia, however, was twice changed, for members of two great families made it, in turn, larger and more beautiful, and it became known first as the Æmilia, and then as the Paulli.

In the court rooms of these basilicas was carried on much of the law business that before this had all been done out of doors at tribunals, or judgment-seats, placed in different parts of the Forum; but these tribunals were not all taken away at once, many years even passing before they entirely ceased to be used. Being of wood, they were often torn to pieces during riots, and used as a means of attack and defence; they were also easily moved, when space was needed for a large assembly, for the shows of the gladiators, or for any great feast. And, in truth, much room was often necessary, for when the gladiators fought, so vast were the crowds that they even overflowed into the streets which overlooked the Forum; sometimes, too, hundreds of people sat down to tables spread there for the entire populace. Some of the most magnificent feasts of the Forum were given at the funerals of great men; but of them all, none were more splendid than was the one in honour of Publius Licinius Crassus, at one time Pontiff, or High Priest. His funeral ceremonies lasted three days, for one hundred and twenty-five pairs of gladiators fought around the funeral pyre and not only was a gift of meat made to the people, but all Rome was bidden to the feast.

While the multitude were feasting, a great storm arose. The wind struck the Forum in such violent gusts that the tables were over-turned, and the rain fell in such torrents that the people were drenched, and forced to make themselves tents of whatever they could find—cloths, cloaks, and coverings of any kind. And so was fulfilled a saying of the soothsayers that, of a surety, a day would come when tents would be pitched in the Roman Forum.

Now as Cato pleased the Romans by the building of a basilica, so other men sought to win public favour in other ways. And a certain man, named Mancinus, greatly desiring to become consul, thought of a way in which to bring himself to the notice of the people, and, at the same time, to gain their good-will. He caused large paintings to be made of the siege and destruction of Carthage, the chief city of the Carthaginians, a distant nation long at war with Rome; and these pictures he hung over some of the shops in the Forum, and he himself showed them to the curious populace,—for it happened that he had been the first Roman to enter Carthage. So, using his fame to aid his ambition, he told the people of his own adventures, explained to them the position of the army, and answered, with untiring patience, the many questions asked by men of both high and low degree. Thus his good-nature won for him the liking of the people, who elected him consul, even as he had planned.

At the lower end of the Forum, near the Regia and across the Sacra Via, was now made an arch. It served as an entrance to that part of the Forum, and was called the Arch of Fabius, because it stood as a sign of triumph, marking the victory of the consul Fabius over the Gauls, and telling that Rome's ancient enemy was meeting with Rome's revenge.

And at the upper end of the Forum, on the slope of the Capitoline Hill, a large building was soon afterward erected, called the Tabularium. It was a place for the safe-keeping of the Records of the State, and it held, engraved on tablets of bronze, deeds of importance, treaties of peace, and decrees of the Senate; and it told of the order and system of the government and of the dignity and power of Rome. And now was added to the Forum a building whose story was different from that of any other. Until now, the buildings and monuments there have told how the Romans reverenced their gods, and how they won victories at home and abroad; bow they honoured their brave men, and how they punished their evil-doers; how they improved their Forum, and how as a people they gained in power. But this building told of a great change in the entire government of their nation, for it formed a link between the two chief periods of Rome's history. It was a basilica, placed between the Temple of Castor and Pollux and the Temple of Saturn, and it was begun in the last days of the Republic, by Julius Cæsar, the greatest of the Romans; but it was finished in the first days of the Empire, by Augustus, the greatest of the Emperors. It was known, however, as the Basilica Julia, because of the wonderful man who commenced it; for although Augustus was the Emperor, Julius Cæsar was the greater of the two. For it was Cæsar, conqueror and statesman, who was so great in mind, and so strong of will, that he won his way, step by step, to the highest position that could be given by the nation; and it was Augustus, Rebuilder and Beautifier of Rome, who received, but only as a legacy, the place and honour of supreme ruler. During the last years of the Republic, the long struggle between the Patricians and the Plebeians became a contest for power among two or three ambitious men. And Rome, weary of the rule of tyrants—for such were the consuls at that time—would have gladly placed the entire in the hands of one just and strong man Julius Cæsar, already dictator for life, would have been made king had not the jealousy of evil men ended his life, for he died covered with wounds given him by assassins and associates. And so this vast basilica, the largest building in the Forum told a story in two parts—the first, about the end of the Republic and the loss of Roman liberty and the second, about the beginning of the Empire and the increase of Roman splendor.