This daughter of Jupiter and Themis, wears a crown of laurel; in her hand
is a branch of the olive-tree, and against her side the statue of Plutus,
to intimate that peace gives rise to prosperity and opulence.
Venus and the Graces were her companions, and an altar was erected to her
at Athens; but at Rome, the capital in which the God of War was also
peculiarly honoured, several altars were dedicated to her, one of the most
magnificent of which was raised by Vespasian, after the war of Judea, and
contained all the treasures taken from the temple at Jerusalem, consisting
of a splendid library, busts, statues and pictures; with an enormous
quantity of natural curiosities.
This temple was however consumed in the reign of Commodus, previous to
which it was customary for men of learning to assemble {249} there, and
even to deposit their most valuable writings as a place of peculiar safety;
and, consequently the loss which took place when it was consumed, could
scarcely be estimated.
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