Chvp II. ROMAN.

85
lioiises and tombs; confining ourselves to those ruins in tlie city, and occasionally the pro-
vines, liicli hi'st ill istrute ilie subject.
208. Temples

1. Tlie quadrangular Roman temple partook very much of its Greek, or

periiaps Etr;isean, oriijinal
;
though occasionally, as in the Temple of Peace, there is a
very considciabie deviation from the type. But the exeepiions to the general rule are very
few indeed in number. Tlie most beautiful temple of the Corinthian order that perhaps
tvvr existed in the world was the (formerly so calK-d) Temple of Jupiter Siator, in the
Campo Vaccino or more properly the P\irnm at Rome, and now desi<;nated the Temple of
the Dioscuri or o( Castor and Pollux, in consequence of recent excavations. It was an
octastyle periptt-ral temple, with eleven columns in flank, and the cell occupied eight
columns on each side. No Greek work could surpass in elegance and beauty the profile of
the Corintiiian order employed in this edifice. The capital, wiietlur considerevl as to
design or execution, is unparalleled. At the same lime it must be admitted tliat it bears
every mark of llie improvements that had been effected through the medium of Greek
artists. Tfiree columns v\itli their ental)iatiire remain; these are 47"65 ft. high, the lower
diameter beiiig 4-8-)
;
so that the eolnmns are 9-8 diameters high. Tl)e heitihi of the
entalilature is a small fraction less tlian one quarter the height of the column. Tlie inter-
column-ations are, as nearly as possible, 15 diameter of the column; whence the size of
the temple will be easily detei inintd.
209. At the toot of the Ca, itol stands the Corinthian Temple of Jupiter Tonans (so
called), aKo called Temple of St:tiirn, but now of Vesjiasian, of which, as of the last, only
three columns remain. This was an hexastyle peripteral (except on the side towards the
roi-k) temple, 115 ft. long and 92 ft. wide, measured from outside to outside of column.
Tlie eolumns are 47'08 ft. high, and their lower diameter is 460 ft.
;
their height, there-
fore, in terms of the diameter, is very nearly lOj- diameters. The height of the entablature
is 9"77 fi., or not (|aite one fifth of the height of the column. The intercoluinniations are
1-.56 diameter. There is a tale in Suetonius, that Augustus had bells suspended round
this temple on the occasion of his dreaming that the god complained of a falling off in the
number of his worshippeis. Its style is inferior to the one above describt'd, yet it is not
'.vithout beauty, though the coinice is, as compared with it, deficient in effet-t. (The de-
scription of the different species of temples mentioned by Vitruvius is giren in the
Glossary, s. v. Temple.)
210. The Temple of Mars Ultor was one of those erected by Augustus. Its profile ex-
hibits a fine and bold example of the Corinthian order. Its whole length was about 116ft.,
and its breadth about 73 ft. The cornice of the entablature is wanting. The intercolumni-
aiions are about
1^ diameter.
211. In the Campo Vaccine are the remains of a Corinthian temple, built by M.
Aurelius in honour of Antoninus, his predecessor, and Faustina, the wife of M. Aurelius,
about the middle of the 2nd century, in a high style of art, and is considered the last pure
building in Rome It was prostylos and hexustylos ; the columns are 46'10 ft. high;
the entablature ll'OS ft ; diameter of the columns 4 85 ft.
;
and the intercolumniations,
except the centre one, which is wider than the others, are
\^
diameter of the columns ; the
columns are
9^
diameters high, and the entablature rather less than one fourth that
heigi'ot; the frieze is ornamented with griffins and candelabra. It is not our intenti n to
describe more th m the principal temples, with their parts, but to afl'ord to the reader in
this place a general view cf the art
;
we shall therefore merely mention those of the
jVIaison Carree at Nismes, and the little edifice at Trevi, which last is erected in a very
vitiated style : both are of the Corinthian order, and quadrangular in form.
212. Rome is very poor in examples of Ionic temples, the only two reinnining being that
of Fortuna Virilis and that of Concord; the first not very pure in its detail, and the latter
in the very worst style. The Temple of Fortuna Virilis is of the species called prostyle
and tetrastyle; that is, with four columns in front and seven on the sides, whereof the cell
OL-tupies four intercolumniations. The height of the columns is 27 .35 ft.
;
the lower
diameter of the columns 3-1
1 ft.
;
and the nei^lit of the entablature 6"78 ft. A peculiarity
has licen noticed in this example of the different centres of the ornamented m'^mbers being
ranged so as to fall with exactness over the axes of the columns.
213. The (formerly so called) Temple of Concord, now of Saturn, or the jErarium,
which is a restoration of a former temple, is probably of the age of Constantino, and
scarcely deserves the notice here taken of it, except as a connecting link in tiie chain of
ar'. It was hexastyle and peripteral. The eight columns which remain are of red and
white granite of different diameters. The bases are Attic, and without plinths, except
those of the angular coluiirns. The capitals are inelegant and clumsily sculptured. The
mouldings of the architrave have been chiselled away to form a plane surface for containing
tiie inscriiition. JVIoiUllions and dentils are nut with in the cornice, and the frieze in the
interior was sculptured. The height of tfie columns is 42 86 d., and their lower diameter
4
48 ft. ; so that they are about
9^
diameters high. Tne lieiglit of the entablature is
7
'2 ft. or about one sixth of the height of the column.