play so important a part in building. The Roman Doric
order, and a very simple variety of it called Tuscan, were but rarely
used. The chief alteration from the Greek Doric, in addition to a
general degradation of all the mouldings and proportions, was the
addition of a base, which sometimes consists of a square plinth and
large torus, sometimes is a slightly modified Attic base; the capital
has a small moulding round the top of the abacus, and under the ovolo
are two or three small fillets with a necking below; the shaft was
from 6 to 7 diameters in height, and was not fluted; the frieze was
ornamented with triglyphs, and the metopes between these were
frequently enriched with sculptured heads of bulls: the metopes were
exact squares, and the triglyphs at the angles of buildings were
placed precisely over the centre of the column.

The Ionic order was but slightly modified by the Romans, the chief
alteration being made in the capital. Instead of forming the angular
volutes so that they exhibited a flat surface on the two opposite
sides of the capital, the Romans appear to have desired to make the
latter uniform on all the four sides; they therefore made the sides of
the abacus concave on plan, and arranged the volutes so that they
seemed to spring out of the mouldings under the abacus and faced
anglewise. The capital altogether seems compressed and crowded up,
and by no means elegant; in fact, both this and the Doric order were
decidedly deteriorations from the fine forms of Greek architecture.

[Illustration: FIG. 145.--ROMAN CORINTHIAN CAPITAL AND BASE FROM THE
TEMPLE OF VESTA AT TIVOLI.]

[Illustration: FIG. 145a.--THE ROMAN COMPOSITE CAPITAL.]

The Corinthian order was much more in accordance with the later Roman
taste for magnificence and display, and hence we find its use very
general both in Rome and in other cities of the Empire. Its
proportions did not greatly differ from those of the Greek Corinthian,
but the mouldings in general were more elaborate. Numerous variations
of the capital exist (Figs. 145, 145a), but the principal one was an
amalgamation of the large Ionic volutes in the upper with the acanthus
leaves of the lower portion of the capital: this is known as the
Composite order, and the capital thus treated has a strength and
vigour which was wanting to the Greek order (see Fig. 145a). The
shafts of the columns were more often fluted than not, though
sometimes the lower portion was left