Vespasian having rendered such services by restoring the Capitol, and
collecting the records in the Tabularium, no more suitable site could
be found for the erection of a temple to the deified emperor than in
front of an old entrance to this latter building. The three pillars,
which are all that remain of the building, stand upon a lofty terrace;
and the skill of the architect in concealing the limited depth of the
space allotted to the temple is shown in his having placed the columns
of the flank nearer to each other than those of the front.
The beauty of this ruin excites universal admiration. It approaches
that of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Forum. The inscription
on the architrave, copied, whilst still entire, by a monk of the
monastery of Einsiedeln, in the eighth century, refers to the
restoration of the building by Septimius Severus and Caracalla, who
appear to have also restored other sanctuaries in the same
neighbourhood.
DIVO. VESPASIANO. S. P. Q. R. IMP. CAES. SEVERUS. ET.
ANTONINUS. PII. FELIC. AUG. RESTITUERUNT.
_Looking across the front of this temple is_