The temple of Concord was the place in which Lentulus and other confederates of Catiline were brought before the senate in order to be tried, and whence they were taken to the Mamertine prisons. “For my own part,” says Middleton, “as oft as I have been wandering about in the very rostra of old Rome, or in that of the temple of Concord, where Tully assembled the senate in Catiline’s conspiracy, I could not help fancying myself much more sensible of the force of his eloquence; whilst the impression of the place served to warm my imagination to a degree almost equal to that of his old audience.” Of late years, however, these ruins have been ascribed to the temple of Fortune, burnt in the time of Maxentius, the competitor of Constantine. The temple of Fortune was, for a long time, taken for the temple of Concord. Its portico is nearly complete; consisting of six granite columns in front, and two behind, supporting an entablature and pediment. The columns all vary in diameter, and have bases and capitals of white marble. From this circumstance it is conjectured that it was erected with the spoils of other buildings; their original temple, burnt in the time of Maxentius, having been rebuilt by Constantine. The temple of Nerva was erected by Trajan. It was one of the finest edifices of ancient Rome; but all that now remains of it is a cella, and three fine columns of Parian marble, fifty feet in height, supporting an architrave. The temple of Peace[184], erected by Vespasian, was enriched with spoils from Jerusalem. This temple is related to have been one of the most magnificent in Rome: it was encircled with a coating of gilt bronze, and adorned with stupendous columns of white marble; it was also enriched with some of the finest sculptures and paintings of which the ancient world could boast[185]. Among the former was a colossal statue of the Nile, surrounded by sixteen children, cut out of one block of basalt; among the latter was the famous picture of Jalysus, painted by Protogenes of Rhodes. Here, too, were deposited the candlesticks, and some other of the spoils, which Titus brought from Jerusalem. There was also a curious library attached to the edifice.