How far the work had progressed before the earthquake of the year 63 it is not easy to determine. The new gutter along the front of the colonnade had not yet been laid, but the foundations of the rows of columns (_e-f-g-h_, _e'f'_, _g'h'_) were for the most part ready. From the Corinthian capital and fragments of shafts and entablature lying about the court it is clear that these members were fitted and in place when they were thrown down. Part of the colonnade was therefore finished. It was in two stories, probably without an intervening floor, like the porticoes in front of the Macellum and the building of Eumachia. Not less than three hundred marble columns must have been required to complete the work; undoubtedly the wall back of the colonnade was divided off by pilasters below and half columns above, the intervening spaces being filled with marble. In point of size, the temple with its court formed the largest sanctuary, in richness of materials the most splendid edifice of the entire city. The great earthquake felled to the ground alike the finished temple and the unfinished colonnade. But the Pompeians, in their time of trouble least of all disposed, we may assume, to forsake their patron goddess, soon commenced the work of rebuilding. Postponing the renewal and completion of the colonnade as of secondary importance, they cleared away the débris of the temple, and on the podium where the cella had stood constructed a temporary place of worship, a small wooden building strengthened at the bottom by a low wall around the outside. Then they proceeded to enlarge the podium; the third temple was to be even more imposing than its predecessor. The old steps were removed from the front. The existing podium was cut back five Roman feet on each side, and four inches at the rear, to form the core of the new podium; on all sides of this a massive foundation wall was commenced, five and a half Roman feet thick, made of large blocks of basalt carefully worked and fitted. A similar wall was carried through the old podium (~B~-~B'~), to serve as the foundation for the front wall of the cella. The relative size of the component parts of the new temple is thus clearly indicated. The cella was to extend over the space ~B~-~C~-~C'~-~B'~, the portico over that marked ~A~-~B~-~B'~; how far the steps were to project in front is uncertain. At the time of the eruption five courses of basalt had been laid, reaching a height of more than four feet, the space between the core of the old podium and the outer wall being filled with concrete as the work progressed. On the north side of the court are still to be seen a number of blocks of basalt not yet trimmed and fitted, just as they were abandoned by the workmen when the work was stopped forever. CHAPTER XIX _THE TEMPLE OF FORTUNA AUGUSTA_