h of
Claudius in the Piazza di Sciarra, and from the Temple of Neptune in
the Piazza di Pietra. To enable the reader to appreciate the value of
the discovery, I must begin with a short description of the temple
itself.

Dio Cassius (liii. 27) states that, in 26 B. C., Marcus Agrippa built
the Portico of the Argonauts, with a temple in the middle of it,
called the Poseidonion ([Greek: POSEIDONION]), in token of his
gratitude to the god of the seas for the naval victories he had gained
over the foes of the commonwealth; but the beautiful ruins still
existing in the Piazza di Pietra do not belong to Agrippa's work, nor
to the golden age of Roman art. They belong to the restoration of the
temple which was made by Hadrian after the great fire of A. D. 80, by
which the Neptunium, or Poseidonion, was nearly destroyed. The
characteristic feature of the temple was a set of thirty-six
bas-reliefs representing the thirty-six provinces of the Roman Empire
at the beginning of the Christian era. These reliefs were set into the
basement of the temple, so as to form the pedestals of the thirty-six
columns of the peristyle, while the intercolumniations, or spaces
between the pedestals, were occupied by another set of bas-reliefs
representing the military uniforms, flags and weapons which were
peculiar to each of the provinces. The fifteen provinces and fourteen
trophies belonging to the colonnade of the Piazza di Pietra, that is,
to the north side of the temple, have all been accounted for. Four
provinces were found during the pontificate of Paul III. (1534-50),
two during that of Innocent X. (1644-55), two during that of Alexander
VII. (1655-1667), three in our excavations of 1878, and four either
are still in the ground or have perished in a lime-kiln. Here again we
have an instance of the shameful dispersion of the spoils of ancient
Rome. We have this wing of the temple still standing in all its glory,
in the Piazza di Pietra; we have eleven pedestals out of fifteen, and
as many panels for the intercolumniations; the others are _probably_
within our reach, and we have beautiful pieces of the entablature with
its rich carvings. The temple, entablature, and nearly all the
trophies and provinces are public property; nothing would be easier
than to restore each piece to its proper place, and make this wing of
the Neptunium one of the most perfect relics of ancient Rome. Alas!
three provinces and two trophies have emigrated to Naples wit