"The Temple of Mars was built in fulfilment of a vow made during the war of Philippi, undertaken by him to avenge his (adopted) father's murder. He ordained that the senate should always assemble there when they met to deliberate respecting wars and triumphs; that thence should be despatched all those who were sent into the provinces in the command of armies; and that in it those who returned victorious from the wars should lodge the trophies of their triumphs" (Suetonius, "Augustus," xxix.). "The Emperor Augustus, being consul with Caninius Gallus, gratified the eyes and minds of the Roman people, on the occasion of dedicating the Temple to Mars, with the most magnificent spectacles of gladiators and a sea-fight" (Velleius Paterculus, ii. 100). By entering the stonemason's yard, _opposite_ the temple, we can see the travertine niches built by Augustus up against the wall of the kings, to receive the statues which he put up in the porticoes. _Passing down this street, Via Bonella, in the direction of the Roman Forum, on our right, No. 44, green door, is_ THE ACADEMY OF S. LUCA. _Open every day from 9 till 3. Fee, half a franc._ The principal pictures are:-- _In the Large Hall._--11. Bacchus and Ariadne, by Poussin. 13. Virgin and Child, by Vandyck. S. Jerome, a sketch, by Titian. 22. Thirty-five sea-pieces, by Vernet. 40. Vanity, by P. Veronese. 49. Vanity, by Titian. 54. A Seaport, by Claude. _Room of Portraits._--A portrait of Virginie Le Brun, by herself; Iris, by Head; and a portrait of H.R.H. the late Duke of Sussex, in the costume of an officer of a Highland Regiment. 238. The skull shown in S. Luca belonged to Don Desiderio de Adintorlo, founder, in 1542, of the Society of the Virtuosi. _Saloon of Raphael._--Bacchus and Ariadne, by Guido Reni. 28. Susanna, by P. Veronese. 29. Calista and Nymphs, by Titian. 22. Venus and Cupid, by Guercino. 25. Tarquin and Lucretia, by Guido Cagnacci. 26. The Galatea, copied by Giulio Romano. 27. Fortune, by Guido Reni. 15. S. Luke Painting the Virgin, by Raphael. A Boy, fresco, by Raphael (very beautiful and life-like), formerly in a room of the Vatican. _Resuming our ramble up the Via Bonella, we take the_ VIA ALESSANDRINA, _on the right; and the_ VIA CROCE BIANCA, _on the left._ This was the site of THE FORUM OF NERVA. "Domitian erected a forum, which is now called Nerva's" (Suetonius, "Domitian," v.). It was known by several names, being called after Domitian, because he commenced it; Nerva, because he finished it; Pervium, because it was a thoroughfare; Pallas and Minerva, from the temple that stood in it, and which was destroyed by Pope Paul V. to build the fountain on the Janiculum; it was also called Transitorium, because a street passed through it for traffic. The only remains left are, _on the right_, THE ALTAR OF MINERVA,