Ovid ("Met." xv., "Let." ii. 2), describes it as "close to Castor and
Pollux, having its aspect towards the Forum and the Capitol." "They
[the Triumvirs] likewise built a tomb to Julius Cæsar in the middle of
the Forum, with an asylum, that should be for ever inviolable" (Dion
Cassius, "Aug."). Before the temple was built, "a column of Numidian
marble, formed of one stone twenty feet high, was erected to Cæsar in
the Forum, inscribed--TO THE FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY" (Suetonius,
"Cæsar," lxxxv.). This gave place to the temple, which had four
columns in front, as we learn from a relief and a coin. It was
decorated with the statues of the Julian line. "About the time of the
death of Nero, the Temple of Cæsar being struck with lightning, the
heads of all the statues in it fell off at once; and Augustus's
sceptre was dashed from his hand" (Suetonius, "Galba").
_We must now call attention to the buildings between the Temple of
Antoninus and the Church of S. Adriano on the line of the houses
shortly to be pulled down; but till the excavations are made, we
cannot be certain of the details. Next to the temple stood_