_Places of Worship._
_Templum_ was a place which had been dedicated to the worship of some
deity, and consecrated by the augurs.
_AEdes sacrae_ were such as wanted that consecration, which, if they
afterwards received, they changed their names to temples.
_Delubrum_ comprehended several deities under one roof. The most
celebrated temples were the capitol and pantheon.
The capitol or temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, was the effect of a vow
made by Tarquinius Priscus, in the Sabine war. But he had scarcely laid
the foundation before his death. His nephew Tarquin the proud, finished
it with the spoils taken from the neighboring nations.
The structure stood on a high ridge, taking in four acres of ground. The
front was adorned with three rows of pillars, the other sides with two.
The ascent from the ground was by a hundred steps. The prodigious gifts
and ornaments with which it was at several times endowed, almost exceed
belief. Augustus gave at one time two thousand pounds weight of gold,
and in jewels and precious stones to the value of five hundred
sestertia.
Livy and Pliny surprise us with accounts of the brazen thresholds, the
noble pillars that Scylla removed thither from Athens, out of the temple
of Jupiter Olympius; the gilded roof, the gilded shields, and those of
solid silver; the huge vessels of silver, holding three measures--the
golden chariot, &c.
This temple was first consumed by fire in the Marian war, and then
rebuilt by Sylla. This too was demolished in the Vitellian sedition.
Vespasian undertook a third, which was burnt about the time of his
death. Domitian raised the last and most glorious of all, in which the
very gilding amounted to twelve thousand talents--on which Plutarch has
observed of that emperor, that he was, like Midas, desirous of turning
every thing into gold. There are very little remains of it at present,
yet enough to make a Christian church.
The capitol contained in it three temples: one to Jupiter, one to Juno,
and one to Minerva. Jupiter's was in the centre, whence he was
poetically called "_Media qui sedet aede Deus_"--the god who sits in the
middle temple.
The pantheon was built by Marcus Agrippa, son-in-law to Augustus Caesar,
and dedicated most probably to all the gods in general, as the name
implies. The structure is a hundred and fifty-eight feet high, and about
the same breadth. The roof is curiously vaulted, void places being here
and there for the greater strength. The rafters were pieces of brass of
forty feet in length. There are no windows in the whole edifice, only a
round hole at the top of the roof, which serves very well for the
admission of light. The walls on the inside are either solid marble or
incrusted. The front, on the outside, was covered with brazen plates,
gilt, the top with silver plates, which are now changed to lead. The
gates were brass, of extraordinary work and magnitude.
This temple is still standing, with little alteration, besides the loss
of the old ornaments, being converted into a Christian church by Pope
Boniface III. The most remarkable difference is that where they before
ascended by twelve steps, they now go down as many to the entrance.
There are two other temples, particularly worth notice, not so much for
the magnificence of the structure, as for the customs that depend upon
them, and the remarkable use to which they were put. These are the
temples of Saturn and Janus.
The first was famous on account of serving for the public treasury--the
reason of which some fancy to have been because Saturn first taught the
Italians to coin money; but most probably it was because this was the
strongest place in the city. Here were preserved all the public
registers and records, among which were the _libri elephantini_, or
great ivory tables, containing a list of all the tribes and the schemes
of the public accounts.
The other was a square building, some say of entire brass, so large as
to contain a statue of Janus, five feet high, with brazen gates on each
side, which were kept open in war, and shut in time of peace.