vely, we may take the _aedicula compitalis_ of Mercurius
Sobrius, discovered in April, 1888, near S. Martino ai Monti, and the
_immagine di Ponte_, at the corner of the Via dei Coronari and the
Vicolo del Micio. The shrine of Mercury near S. Martino was dedicated
by Augustus, in the year 10 B. C. The inscription engraved on the
front of the altar says: "The emperor Augustus dedicated this shrine
to Mercury in the year of the City, 744, from money received as a
new-year's gift, during his absence from Rome."

Suetonius (Chapter 57) says that every year, on January 1, all classes
of citizens climbed the Capitol and offered _strenae calendariae_ to
Augustus, when he was absent; and that the emperor, with his usual
generosity, appropriated the money to the purchase of _pretiosissima
deorum simulacra_, "the most valuable statues of gods," to be set up
at the crossings of thoroughfares. Four pedestals of these statues
have already been found: one near the Arch of Titus, at the beginning
of the sixteenth century; one, in 1548, near the Senate House; one, in
the same year, by the Arch of Septimius Severus. The fourth pedestal,
that recently discovered near S. Martino ai Monti, was raised at the
crossing of two important streets, the _clivus suburanus_ (Via di S.
Lucia in Selci), and the _vicus sobrius_ (Via dei Quattro Cantoni),
from which the statue was nicknamed _Mercurius Sobrius_, "Mercury the
teetotaller."

The _immagine di Ponte_, in the Via dei Coronari, the prototype of
modern shrines, contains an image of the Virgin in a graceful niche
built, or re-built, in 1523, by Alberto Serra of Monferrato, from
designs by Antonio da Sangallo. Its name is derived from that of the
lane leading to the Ponte S. Angelo (Canale di Ponte). The house to
which it belongs is No. 113 Via dei Coronari, and No. 5 Vicolo del
Micio.

Monumental crosses were sometimes erected instead of shrines. Count
Giovanni Gozzadini has called the attention of archaeologists to this
subject in a memoir "Sulle croci monumentali che erano nelle vie di
Bologna del secolo XIII." He proves from the texts of historians,
Fathers, and councils that the practice of erecting crosses at the
junction of the main streets is very ancient, and belongs to the first
century of the freedom of the Church, when the faithful withdrew the
emblem of Christ from the catacombs, and raised it in opposition to
the street shrines of the gentiles. Bologna has the privilege of
posses