The Romans as a people were patrons of art rather than artists. They seem from very early days to have admired the plastic art of other nations; but of Romans themselves there were very few sculptors; their artists were architects of grand structures rather than workers in the lesser monuments of artistic skill and genius. At first, as we have said, they relied upon the Etruscans, who built their earliest temples and adorned them with sculptures, and the first record which we have of Greek artists working in Rome gives us the names of Damophilus and Gorgasus, who decorated the temple of Ceres with paintings and sculptures. This temple was consecrated in B.C. 493; if its adornment was of the same date, the knowledge of Greek art was brought to Rome at a very early period--at least fifty-six years before the completion of the Parthenon. But the means by which the whole Roman people were made familiar with the beauties of Greek art are to be found in another direction. It was not the building of their own temples, or any work done by Greek artists in Rome, that gave the Romans their love and appreciation for art; it was rather the art spoils seized by their victorious leaders and brought home to adorn and beautify every portion of the Eternal City. In B.C. 212 Marcellus carried to Rome the spoils he had taken at Syracuse; he exhibited them in his triumphal procession, and afterward consecrated them in the temple of Honor and Valor which he built. From this time it was the fashion to bring home all the choice things that Roman conquerors could seize, and the number of beautiful objects thus gained for Rome was marvellous. When Flaminius defeated Philip of Macedon it required two days to gather up the spoils. After Fulvius Nobilior conquered the AEtolians he brought Greek artists to Rome to arrange his festivities, and he exhibited five hundred and fifteen bronze and marble statues which he had taken from the defeated people. When Perseus of Macedon was overcome by AEmilius Paulus it required two hundred and fifty wagons to remove the pictures and statues alone which he displayed in his triumphal procession; among these treasures there was a statue of Athena by Phidias himself. This work of spoiling the Grecian cities which came into their power was diligently carried on by Mummius, Sulla, and others, until at length the Emperor Augustus removed many of the archaic sculptures to Rome. But the works which best pleased the Romans were those of the later school of Athens. The ruling gods at Rome were Mars, Bacchus, and Venus, and the statues of these deities were much valued.