ing the four cardinal points; the transverse lines fixed
the limits of the _cella_; the point where the two branches met was the
place for the door, and the first stone was deposited on the threshold.
Numerous lighted lamps illuminated these ceremonies, after which the
chief priest, the _pontifex maximus_, consecrated the area, and from
that moment it became settled and immovable. If it crumbled, it must be
rebuilt on the same spot, and the least change made, even should it be
to enlarge it, would be regarded as a profanation. Thus had the dwelling
of the god that rises before us at the extremity of the Forum been
consecrated.

Like most of the Roman temples, this edifice is elevated on a foundation
(the _podium_), and turned toward the north. One ascends to it by a
flight of steps that cuts in the centre a platform where, perhaps, the
altar stood. Upon the _podium_ there remain some vestiges of the twelve
columns that formed the front portico or _pronaos_. Twelve columns, did
I say?--three on each side, six in front; always an even number at the
facades, so that a central column may not mask the doorway and that the
temple may be freely entered by the intercolumnar middle space.

To the right and the left of the steps were pedestals that formerly
sustained statues probably colossal. Behind the _pronaos_ could be
recognized the place where the _cella_ used to be. Nothing remains of it
now but the mosaic pavement and the walls. Traces of columns enable us
to reconstruct this sanctuary richly. We can there raise--and it has
been done on paper--two colonnades--the first one of the Ionic order,
supporting a gallery; the second of the Corinthian order, sustaining the
light wooden platform of painted wood which no longer exists. The walls,
covered with stucco, still retain pretty decorative paintings. Three
small subterranean chambers, of very solid construction, perhaps
contained the treasury and archives of the State, or something else
entirely different--why not those of the temple? In those times the
Church was rich; the Saviour had not ordained poverty as its portion.

[Illustration: THE FORUM.]

What deity's house is it that we are visiting now? Jupiter's, says
common opinion, upon the strength of a colossal statue of which
fragments have been found that might well have fitted the King of the
Gods. Others think it the temple of Venus, the _Venus Physica_ (the
beautiful in nature, say aesthetic philosophers) being the