_On our right_ are some remains of the Frangipani fortress, a tower of the middle ages; a piece of the second wall of Rome; some substructions and walls, as it were supporting the Palatine Hill; and remains of the Baths and TEMPLE OF THE SUN, "built by Elagabalus, on the slopes of the Palatine, for the worship of the Syro-Phœnician sun-god, which was represented by a black conical stone, set with gems. Elagabalus broke into the Temple of Vesta, intending to remove the Palladium to his Temple of the Sun, but the virgins, by a pious fraud, defeated his object, on discovering which he broke into their sanctuary, and carried off one of the virgins to add to his list of wives" (Lampridius). [Illustration: ARCH OF TITUS, WITH THE META SUDANS, AND BASILICÆ OF THE FORUM OF CUPID.] The temple was built for the worship of the Sun. Around it was the Lavacrum, or gratuitous baths, A.D. 218-222. The temple was converted in A.D. 800 into the Church of S. Maria, by Pope Leo III. The remains of the altar can be seen at the east end; at the west end is the baptistery, in the form of a Greek cross, with an apse at the top containing the raised platform with the depressed basin of the font in which the person about to be baptized stood, whilst the minister occupied the platform above it and poured the water over his head. _On our left is_ THE FORUM OF CUPID AND ITS BASILICÆ, miscalled the Temple of Venus and Rome. The platform upon which it stands is partly the Velia ridge and partly artificial. When a building was inaugurated after consecration it was called a _templum_. A _delubrum_ was an isolated building, surrounded with an area, dedicated to religious purposes. This--because it was double, having two aspects, two distinct apses or tribunals--we call, in the plural number, _delubra_, or the double basilica. The remains consist of two large tribunals, back to back, with a portion of the lateral walls and vaults. The wall in the monastery gardens is apsidal, the other is rectangular. The name of this building is entirely lost. All we know about it is, that it is of the time of Maxentius and Constantine, A.D. 306-337, the construction showing it to be of that time; besides, Nibby found in the walls bricks stamped with the name of Maxentius. Nearly all late authorities have called this ruin the Temple of Venus and Rome. Now, it could not possibly be that temple, for we are told distinctly, as we have related, by Apollodorus, that the Temple of Rome was NOT built on a platform. Again, the Temple of Rome was built by Hadrian, A.D. 118-138, and these remains are of the time of Maxentius and Constantine, A.D. 306-337; besides, Roman temples had no tribunals or apses. These basilicas were surrounded by a colonnade of gray granite, numerous fragments of which still lie about, and there was probably originally a forum or market-place for the sale of fruit and toys.