Vespasian having rendered such services by restoring the Capitol, and collecting the records in the Tabularium, no more suitable site could be found for the erection of a temple to the deified emperor than in front of an old entrance to this latter building. The three pillars, which are all that remain of the building, stand upon a lofty terrace; and the skill of the architect in concealing the limited depth of the space allotted to the temple is shown in his having placed the columns of the flank nearer to each other than those of the front. The beauty of this ruin excites universal admiration. It approaches that of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Forum. The inscription on the architrave, copied, whilst still entire, by a monk of the monastery of Einsiedeln, in the eighth century, refers to the restoration of the building by Septimius Severus and Caracalla, who appear to have also restored other sanctuaries in the same neighbourhood. DIVO. VESPASIANO. S. P. Q. R. IMP. CAES. SEVERUS. ET. ANTONINUS. PII. FELIC. AUG. RESTITUERUNT. _Looking across the front of this temple is_ THE TEMPLE OF SATURN. "The temple was consecrated to Saturn, upon the ascent leading from the Forum to the Capitol. Before this, the altar erected by the followers of Hercules stood there" (Dionysius, vi. 1. See _ibid._, i. 34). Only eight Ionic columns, with their capitals and architraves, remain. It was on the steps of this temple that the generals took the oath that they had given a correct account of their spoil and prisoners. It contained the public treasury, and, according to Solinus, was called the Treasury of Saturn. Livy (ii. 21) says, "In the consulate of Aulus Sempronius and Marcus Minucius, A.U.C. 257, the Temple of Saturn was dedicated." Plutarch says, "Publicola appointed the Temple of Saturn to be the treasury, which they still make use of for that purpose, and empowered the people to choose two young men as quæstors or treasurers." The inscription is still _in situ_. SENATUS . POPULUSQUE . ROMANUS . INCENDIO . CONSUMPTUM . RESTITUIT. [Illustration: TEMPLE OF VESPASIAN, TABULARIUM, AND PORTICO OF THE TWELVE GODS.] THE MILLIARIUM AUREUM, or Golden Milestone, set up by Augustus (Dion Cassius, liv. 5), the site of which is at the angle of the temple on the side of the old Clivus Capitolinus, the ancient road leading up from the Forum. It was a gilded stone, on which the distance of all the principal towns was recorded, the distance being always measured from the city gates. Suetonius ("Otho," vi.) tells that "Otho gave his accomplices notice to wait for him in the Forum near the Temple of Saturn, at the Golden Milestone." Tacitus ("H." i. 27) relates the same; and Plutarch (in "Galba") agrees with them both, adding, "There terminate all the great roads in Italy." _Behind the Temple of Saturn, in the corner, is_ THE PORTICO OF THE TWELVE GODS,