Three temples of the time of the republic, situated in one front, and
forming a group. Not only many columns, but also considerable remains
of the substructions have been preserved. The latter have been
rendered accessible by the recent excavations.
The largest of these temples, Piety, situated in the middle, is of
Ionic architecture. It is surrounded by a corridor, and is probably
the same erected to Piety by the son of M. Acilius Glabrio ten years
after the event, in fulfilment of a vow made by his father at the
battle of Thermopylæ, A.U.C. 562, erected 572 (Livy, xl. 34). The
_left hand_ temple is that of Juno Sospita (to keep in health),
founded by Cethægus, B.C. 195 (Livy, xxxii. 30, xxxiv. 53). The Temple
of Hope is _on the right_. It was erected by Atilius Calatinus during
the first Punic War, B.C. 248 (Livy xxi. 62, xxv. 7).
These temples were situated in the Forum Olitorium, the great
vegetable market of Rome, and outside the Servian wall. The custodian
shows a cell which he points out as the scene of the "Caritas Romana."
Visitor! "beware, beware! he's fooling thee." This is not that Temple
of Piety erected on the site of the house of the Roman matron, or,
according to some authorities, on the site of the Decemviral Prisons;
for Pliny and Solinus tell us that the sites of the temple and prison
were occupied by the Theatre of Marcellus. According to Valerius
Maximus (v. 4) and Pliny ("Natural History," vii. 36), it was a
daughter who thus saved her mother's life, and "they were henceforth
provided for by the state." Festus says it was her father.
_Turn to the right, in coming out of the temple; a short distance on
the right the Via di Ponte Rotto turns out to the right. A little way
up on the right is_