"The Sacred Way resounded (_they say_) with lowings before the shrine of Rome; for she also herself is worshipped with blood after the fashion of a goddess, and the name of the place (_Rome_) is regarded as a divinity. The temples also of the city and of Venus rise with a like roof; and at one and the same time frankincense is consumed to the twin-gods." It could not have faced the Via Sacra, or Maxentius would not have built the temple of his son against it, 311 A.D. The bronze doors of the Round Temple were found at Perugia by Urban VIII. The two columns of porphyry, with the cornice, are supposed to have been found amongst the ruins when it was turned into a church. On the right side of the present church is a piece of wall of Gabii tufa stone of _opus quadratum_. At the back of the church is the brick front wall of the temple, on which the celebrated _Pianta Capitolina_ was originally attached (see page 185) by means of cement and cramps, and which was found below the soil under the wall, having been thrown down by an earthquake. Suetonius tells us that Nero's colossus stood in the vestibule of his palace. Martial says, "It was removed by Vespasian, when he built the Temple of Peace, to where the atrium (a more inward part) was." It was a second time removed, for Spartianus informs us that "Hadrian removed it with twenty-four elephants _from_ the place where now stands the Temple of the City." Thus we learn that the spot where the Temple of Rome is, was formerly the atrium of Nero's Golden House, and that the Temple of Peace occupied the vestibule. "Maxentius restored the Temple of Venus and Rome, which had been damaged by fire" (Aur. Victor, "Cæs." xl.). The Emperor Heraclius gave permission to Pope Honorius I. to remove the bronze tiles of this temple in order to use them for the roof of S. Peter's; whence they were stolen by the Saracens in 846. Dion Cassius (lxxi. 31) tells us that "Cleopatra's statue in gold is to be seen in the Temple of Venus to this day." Also that "the senate ordered two statues of silver to be erected in the Temple of Venus; one in honour of Faustina, and the other in honour of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. They likewise ordered an altar to be set up before it, on which every contracted couple were to sacrifice before marriage." Mr. J. H. Parker, C.B., made some excavations under the wall of Gabii stone in 1868-9, and found that a street ran from the Sacred Way along the side of the wall, in which was a small doorway into the temple. This has now been re-excavated by the Government (1880), who have taken possession of the Round Temple. The government have recently pulled down the chapel of the burial society adjoining the Temple of Romulus, and on the two thousand six hundred and thirty-third anniversary of the foundation of Rome, April 21st, 1880, the two cipollino columns were found to have belonged to the TEMPLE OF THE PENATES.