What divinity thus became the host of the Roman gods? It would be impossible to say but for the fortunate recovery of an Oscan inscription, which was set up in the passage of the Stabian Gate. This commemorates the work of two aediles, M. Sittius and N. Pontius, who improved the street leading out from the Stabian Gate 'as far as the Stabian Bridge, and the Via Pompeiana as far as the temple of Zeus Milichius; these streets, as well as the Via Jovia (and another, the name of which cannot be made out) they placed in perfect repair.' It is natural to suppose that the Via Pompeiana, mentioned in immediate connection with the road leading to Stabiae, was the continuation of the latter within the city, or Stabian Street. This, then, led to the temple named in the inscription, and as there is no other temple on the street, the small sanctuary in which the images of the Capitoline divinities were placed was the temple of Zeus Milichius. This building, however, is not old enough to have been mentioned in an Oscan inscription. It probably stands in the place of a much earlier edifice. The masonry of the wall on the south side of the court is different from that of the other walls, and older; as it shows no trace of a cross wall, it must always have stood at the side of an open space, such as that of the present court. To the earlier building the capitals belong, the style of which, as remarked above, is pre-Roman. In view of this explanation, we should probably recognize in the head carved on the smallest of the pilaster capitals (Fig. 85) a representation of Zeus Milichius, a divinity honored in many parts of Greece, especially by the farmers; Zeus the Gracious, the patron of tillers of the soil. The serious, kindly face, bearded and with long locks, was more than a mere ornament; it was the god himself looking down upon the worshipper who entered his sanctuary. As a representation of Zeus it probably exemplifies an ancient type. CHAPTER XXVII _THE BATHS AT POMPEII.--THE STABIAN BATHS_