=Temple Plans.=--The plan of the Roman temple was circular, polygonal, or rectangular; the last being the most usual type. The best preserved example is the so-called “=Maison Carrée=” at =Nîmes= in Provence, which was erected during the reign of Hadrian (<small>A.D.</small> 117-138). Its form is of the favourite kind: pseudo-peripteral, that is to say, the columns which surround the sides and end are not detached from but built into the walls of the cella. The portico has a deep projection, supported by ten detached columns. As usual in a Roman temple the stylobate is replaced by a podium, in this case about twelve feet high, which projects in front, enclosing the entrance steps. The columns are of the Corinthian order, 32 feet in height, supporting an entablature which measures 8 feet to the lower angles of the pediment. The frieze is bored with holes, in which it is supposed the letters of an inscription were fixed, and the cornice is richly decorated. Another very interesting example at =Nîmes= is the so-called =Temple of Diana=, which probably was a _nymphæum_, or structure for flowers, statuary, and fountains, attached to some _thermæ_. The plan shows a central chamber, flanked by two passages; the exterior walls being devoid of columns. Meanwhile, the interior walls of the central chamber have a series of detached columns, supporting an entablature from which spring the curves of the barrel-vaulted ceiling. The outward thrust of the latter is offset by the continuous vaulting of the side-passages. It is probable, as we shall see, that this arrangement furnished a type for many of the Romanesque churches of Southern France. Of the circular temples the best known examples are the =Temple of Mater Matuta= in =Rome=, the =Temple of Vesta= at =Tivoli=, and the =Pantheon=. Nothing but a few fragments remain of the =Temple of Vesta= in the =Forum Romanum=. The first named, situated in the =Forum Boarium=, is peripteral, consisting of a cylindrical cella, 28 feet in diameter surrounded by a circular colonnade of 20 Corinthian columns, 34 feet 7 inches high; the whole standing on a podium raised 6 feet from the ground. In the case of the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli the Corinthian columns, 18 in number, are 11 feet lower. “The reason for this difference,” writes Professor Banister-Fletcher, “is instructive. The Temple of Mater Matuta, placed in a low, flat situation, has columns of slender proportion in order to give it the required height; whereas the Tivoli example, placed on the edge of a rocky prominence and thus provided with a lofty basement, has columns of sturdier proportions.” A further difference is found in the foliage decoration of the capitals of the two temples; those of the =Temple of Mater Matuta= having pointed leaves of the Hellenic type of acanthus, while in the Temple of Tivoli the Roman type is adhered to.