tude, they were again transferred to Jerusalem to the Christian church. It is suspected they afterwards passed into Persia through the hands of Chosroes, who took the holy city in 614; and many are unwilling to believe that they have yet ceased to exist. The temple of Peace remained in all its glory for about 110 years; it was then completely, destroyed in the great fire which took place under Commodus.6 [A. D. 191.]

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The words of Herodian 67 seem to forbid any further enquiry into the remains of this celebrated building. - By the slight earthquake and the thunderbolt which followed it, the whole of the sacred enclosure was consumed, which was the most splendid object the city then possessed." From the security it afforded, it was the richest of all temples in offerings of gold and silver; and every one had deposited in it whatever he possessed most valuable. Some conjectured that the loss of the temple of Peace was a sign of war. Claudius Galenus, the celebrated physician, who witnessed the conflagration, equally declares that the whole edifice was entirely consumed 68 ; and his voluminous writings, which were laid up in his shop situated in the Via Sacra, also perished in the flames. Procopius saw the temple in ruins in the sixth century, having so lain for ages (he

65 Procopius de Bell. Vandalic. lib. i. cap. 5., and lib. ii. cap. 9.

66 Dion Cassius, lib. lxxii. p. 1224.

68 Βιβλίων

67 In vit. Commod. lib. i. p. 22. edit. Stephan. 1581. ἐγκαταλειφθέντων δὲ ἐν τῇ κατὰ τὴν ἱερὰν ὁδὸν ἀποθηκῇ, μετὰ τῶν ἀλλῶν, ἡνίκα τὸ τῆς Εἰρήνης τέμενος, ὅλον ἐκαύθη. De Medicament. lib. i. cap. 1.

says), ever since it was struck down by lightning; and when Marcellinus enumerates the objects which attracted the special attention of Constantius, he mentions the temple of Hadrian and the Forum of Peace 70, but no temple of that name; neither has P. Victor inserted it in his catalogue 71: hence it appears that the temple of Peace was effectually destroyed, and never again rebuilt. A solitary passage in Trebellius Pollio 72, who wrote in the fourth century, might raise an argument, but it would not invalidate this conclusion. Moreover, the situation of Vespasian's temple does not correspond to the ruined edifice before us—for it is said to have been built very near to the Forum; but as it was also in the Via Sacra, it must have come near the temple of Antoninus.

The rectangularly-formed edifice to which these imposing ruins belong occupies a space of about 300 feet by 230; it was divided into three aisles or naves. The original entrance was by a portico or corridor, on the side parallel to Hadrian's temple (a a) 73; and at the corresponding end was a tribunal (b), which is now embodied in a granary. The vaults of the two side aisles were supported by massive walls and pilasters; the middle vault,

69 . Ἥκει διὰ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἣν φόρον Εἰρηνῆς καλοῦσι Ῥωμαίοι· ἐνταῦθα γάρ πη ὁ τῆς Εἰρηνῆς νέως κεραυνοβλήτος γενόμενος ἐκ παλαιοῦ κεῖται. Procop. de Bello Gothic. lib. iv. cap. 21. 70 Ammian. Marcellin. lib. xvi. сар. 10.

71 The fourth region, nevertheless, preserved the denomination of "Templum Pacis ;" and it is easy to see how the error of the repetition has slided into the text of S. Rufus. Vide apud Grævium, tom. iii. p. 28.

72 Triginta Tyrann. Victoria, sect. 31.

73 See the ground-plan of this edifice in the plan of the Roman Forum, No. 3.

higher by one third than the other, was reared upon eight large fluted columns of white marble, one of which existed in its original place (c) in the time of Camucci4, and was afterwards taken away by Pope Paul V. in 1619, and set up in front of the church of S. Maria Maggiore, where it now stands. The corridor above mentioned was narrow, and only rose to about one third the height of the building; the level of it was two steps below that of the adjoining original pavement. It is not certain whether it had columns before the pilasters or not. The entrance was at first by a single opening (at d), which was flanked by two windows corresponding to the main nave, by two more corresponding with the side aisles, and by two others opposite the buttresses of the aisles; thus presenting six windows in front, not unlike the elevation of a modern church. This corridor is now nearly destroyed: the alcove (e) at the end is of a much later construction, and has been used for a Christian chapel. The window opposite the existing aisle, as well as the adjoining one, has been closed up; and a staircase afterwards made for ascending to the terrace formed over the portico, as may still be recognised (see f). This communicated with another staircase (at g), which conducted to the top of the building. For comprehending this construction, it is necessary to enter the garden behind the ruins, and ascend them. In the inner wall of the portico were five doors, which gave immediate access into the interior; viz. three into the main nave, and one each into the aisles. Each

74 As appears from a sketch entitled "Tempio della Pace." Antichità di Roma, &c. lib. i. p. 37.

of the three vaults of the aisles was lighted by six arched windows, i. e. three below and three above. The main nave was lighted by six additional "lunettes," situated directly above the vaults, and by three windows towards the front. Two thirds of the building is now entirely destroyed; the buttresses alone remaining to mark the original plan. The aisle which still exists presents three naked vaults, fretted into octagonal coffers; and over the whole spring the arches, tending to form the great central roof. In all these particulars we see nothing else but the form of a Basilica; and it may, perhaps, be necessary to explain what that properly was.

Any thing distinguished for its splendour was called by the ancients "basilicum," or kingly"; and an "Edes Basilica" might originally be a magnificent edifice of any kind: but when those spacious halls were erected about the forums for the administration of justice, the word " Ædes," or "Aula,” or Porticus," was dropped, and only the adjective "basilica" applied to them by distinction; which then, of course, became a substantive. The first building of this description was made by M. Porcius Cato, in the 566th year of the city 76, and was called the Basilica Porcia. The justicehall built by Pompey near his theatre was called Regia "," exactly synonymous with the Greek word Basilica.

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Vitruvius has left many precepts for the con

75 Vide Pitisci Lexicon Antiquitat. &c. in verb. Basilicum, tom. i. p. 266. edit. Venet. 1719.

76 Tit. Liv. lib. xxxix. cap. 44.; and compare Plutarch in Caton. Minor. p. 761.

77 Suet in Octav. cap. xxxi.

struction of such edifices; and Pompeii affords a perfect exemplication. A Basilica was not only used as a court of justice, but also as a rendezvous for merchants and money-changers.78 It was necessary there should be a tribunal where the judge or prætor sat; but so formed, in a recess or hemicyclium, that the judicial proceedings might not be interrupted by the noise of an exchange. Hence Vitruvius cites as a good example the hemicyclium in a Basilica of the Forum, which was forty-six feet in width by fifteen in breadth; "so that the merchants in the Basilica might not interfere with those who had business with the magistrates." On each side of the tribunal were places called "cornua," or wings 79, where persons of distinction might stand or sit near the judge: so that a Basilica was both a court of justice and an exchange. There were in all twenty-one in Rome and their form was well adapted for Christian churches: many of them were afterwards used as such. They not only preserved the original name, but transmitted it to all other churches built after a similar model. Hence we see in almost all the churches a main tribunal at the end where the great altar stands; and in many of the old Basilicas a narrow portico in front, and in every respect, except the Latin cross, constructed like the building we are now examining.

;

It will be observed in the middle of the northern flank, that a large niche, or tribunal (see h), has

78 Vitruvius de Architectura, lib. v. cap. 1. p. 170. edit. citat. 79 Tacit. Annal. lib. i. cap. 75.; compare also C. Plin. Epist. xxxiii. lib. 6.

80 Pitiscus in Lexicon, ut supra, p. 264.