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This arch is the most modern and the best preserved of all the buildings which remain of the Imperial period. Probably it owes its preservation to the Christianity of its hero. The statue on the Capitoline Hill, now known to represent Marcus Aurelius, has survived, owing to the belief entertained throughout the Middle Ages that it was a portrait of the first Christian emperor; and the Basilica of Constantine, which still retains some of its original form, may owe its continued existence to the name with which it is associated.
The inscription on the arch, on the side nearest the Colosseum, is—
IMP. CAES. FL. CONSTANTINO MAXIMO
P.P. AVGVSTO. S.P.Q.R.
QVOD. INSTINCTV. DIVINITATIS. MENTIS
MAGNITVDINE. CVM EXERCITV. SVO.
TAM. DE. TYRANNO. QVAM. DE. OMNI. EIVS.
FACTIONE. VNO TEMPORE. IVSTIS.
REMPVBLICAM. VLTVS. EST. ARMIS.
ARCVM. TRIVMPHANS. INSIGNEM. DICAVIT.
the Pious, the Fortunate, Augustus, the Senate and (To Emperor Caesar Flavius Constantinus Maximus, People of Rome have dedicated in triumph this noble arch, because, by the inspiration of God and the greatness of his mind, he, by means of his legions and just arms, avenged the Republic, not only on the tyrant, but also at one time on all his faction.) The words instinctu divinitatis were probably agreed upon by the senate in the hope of satisfying both Pagans and Christians, each religion placing its own construction on the meaning of the term ' divinitas' — divinity, God. Over the reliefs in the interior are the words—
LIBERATORI. VRBTS.
FVNDATORI. QVIETIS.
The aspirations of the Romans for liberation and quiet were satisfied for the moment by Constantine. But the subsequent career of the city is unique in history for its long record of tyranny and revolution.
The general appearance of the arch is so good, and the reliefs upon it of Constantine's era are so poor, that its design and proportion have been assumed to be an imitation of an arch of the time of Trajan.
Seven of the eight fluted Corinthian columns are of giallo antico (Numidian marble), the eighth, that nearest the Forum, having been removed to the Lateran by Clement VIII. and replaced by one of white marble. Giallo antico, from Numidia and Libya in North Africa, is of a deep yellow colour with tints of orange and pink. It was much used in Rome for columns and the linings of walls. These columns stand upon pedestals, and they also carry pedestals upon which are statues of Dacian prisoners.
These figures are of the time of Trajan, with the exception of the one on the left nearest the Palatine ; and all the heads and hands are restorations. The four rectangular reliefs on each face of the attic, with one on each flank, and one on each side of the central vault, are of Trajan's time. The two on each flank, with the two under the central arch, belonged originally to one continuous series. It began with the central panel on the left (towards the Caelian) which represents Trajan crowned by Victory; the second in the series is on the attic towards the Cadian, and the third is under the central
arch towards the Palatine—both these exhibit fighting between the Roman cavalry and the Dacians; the fourth panel, on the attic towards the Palatine, shows the Dacian prisoners before Trajan.
The rectangular reliefs on the two faces are in the following order :—From the Colosseum side, the first on the left of the spectator represents Trajan greeted on his triumphal entry into Rome by the goddess Roma, with the garlanded Temple of Mars in the background. The second is an allegorical allusion to the construction of a road through the Pontine Marshes in 110 ; Trajan stands before a reclining figure with a wheel, the Roman symbol for a road. The third shows Trajan distributing food to the children of the poor, a charity which he inaugurated in 99. The last panel on the right exhibits a barbarian chief doing homage to Trajan. Below these rectangular reliefs are four medallions representing alternately hunting and sacrificial scenes. In the first, on the left, Trajan on horseback follows a boar ; in the second he offers a libation to Apollo ; in the next he stands over a dead lion ; and in the fourth he sacrifices to Jupiter. On the left, below the medallions and above the lower left arch, is a long panel of the time of Constantine, which gives an interesting view of the rostra and the Forum. In the centre of the rostra is the figure of Constantine, the upper part destroyed. At each end of the rostra, raised on a pedestal, is a seated statue. On the rostra, listening to the discourse of the emperor, are the leading citizens, and below, in the Forum, the people. On the left, in the background, are four arches of the Basilica Julia, then the Arch of Tiberius; then behind the rostra five columns surmounted by statues, and on the right the arch of Septimius Severus. On the side of the Arch of Constantine, facing the Via S. Gregorio, the rectangular relief on the attic to the left of the spectator shows Trajan receiving a barbarian chief, and the second panel also has Trajan receiving Dacian captives, with Decebalus their king.
The inscription in the centre of the attic is a repetition of that on the other face. The third panel represents Trajan standing on a platform haranguing his soldiers; and the 1st on the right shows Trajan pouring a libation on to a tripod altar, while a boar, a ram and a bull are led to the sacrifice of the Suovetaurilia. The medallions continue the series of alternate hunting and sacrificial scenes. On the left, Trajan standing by his horse is ready to start for the chase; then he sacrifices before a statue of Hercules ; the third panel shows him on horseback pursuing a bear ; and the last, pouring a libation on to an altar before a statue of Diana, as a thank-offering for success in the hunt.