The opinion that it was the Temple of Spes Vetus, which Frontinus places near the commencement of the branch aqueduct of Nero, is more likely to be correct, but the shape of the building, so far as it is at present known, does not agree with such a supposition. The ruins are commonly known by the name of the Temple of Venus and Cupid, a name which was given to them from the discovery of a statue near them representing a female figure. But it is a fatal objection to this that the name of the Roman matron (Sallustia) whose statue was supposed to be that of Venus, has been discovered to be engraved upon the pedestal. The statue may be seen in the Museo Pio Clementino. [Sidenote: Amphitheatrum Castrense.] On the other side of the Basilica, and forming a part of the Aurelian wall, is a portion of an amphitheatre. The interior, now used as a garden, may be seen by entering the door on the right hand of the basilica. The larger axis of the amphitheatre was apparently about one hundred and ten yards, and the shorter eighty-five or thereabouts. It is entirely constructed of brick, even to the Corinthian capitals which ornament the exterior, and the workmanship shows it to belong to the best age of Roman architectural art. The second tier of arches has almost entirely disappeared, and of the lowest tier only those are left which are built into the city wall. But to suppose, as Becker does, that it was not an amphitheatre, but the vivarium, where the wild beasts used in the games were kept, seems out of the question. The only difficulty is to determine what the special history and purpose of the building, manifestly an amphitheatre, placed so far from the populous parts of the city, was. The Notitia here comes to our aid, for it records the existence of an amphitheatrum castrense in the fifth region; and there can be little doubt that we have here the remains of the amphitheatre built for the entertainment of the prætorian troops quartered in a fortified camp beyond the Porta S. Lorenzo. Aurelian made use of the outer side of the building as a part of his walls, and it is most probable that when Constantine pulled down the inner portion of the prætorian camp, he also destroyed the greater part of this amphitheatre. [Sidenote: House of the Laterani.] In consequence of the sinking of part of the wall which supports the apse of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, excavations became necessary in the year 1876 which disclosed the foundations of some ancient buildings between the baptistery and the Via della Ferratella, and of some others under the apse itself. These were carefully examined, and it became evident that they belonged to the extended ruins of a large villa, probably that called the House of the Laterani, which was occupied and enlarged by the emperors of the second and third centuries, and finally given by Constantine to the Bishop of Rome. The House of Verus, also mentioned by Julius Capitolinus, was probably on this site.