A few steps from the temple is the pavement of a great oblong building, of whose superstructure there are but scant remains. This was the Basilica Julia, erected by Julius Cæsar, and rebuilt, after a destructive fire, by Augustus. A basilica was used for law courts and for business purposes. The style of building was borrowed from Greece; but the architect at Rome wrought in the spirit of her people. He left the exterior plain and unattractive, to devote his whole attention to the interior. It is essentially a vast hall, with aisles separated from nave by a row of arched piers in this case, in other basilicas by colonnades. The designer molded, as it were, the interior space, so as to express in the language of art the grandeur of the empire, and in the severe harmony of the lines the orderliness and symmetry of Roman law. No other architectural type so well embodied the imperial idea. Of the other buildings connected with the Forum the most conspicuous is the temple of Castor and Pollux, just beyond the Basilica Julia. The ruins consist of three slender columns, standing on a high foundation and supporting a fragment of the entablature. These remains belong to the reconstruction of the temple under Augustus. The worship of the twin gods, Castor and Pollux, patrons of cavalry, had been introduced from Greece into Rome in the early republic. The front porch of the temple often served as a platform for party leaders while addressing the crowd in the Forum. On such occasions it sometimes became the center of violent political conflicts out of keeping with the beauty of the surroundings. This temple and nearly all others at Rome are of the Corinthian order of architecture, distinguished by the capital of clustered acanthus leaves surmounting the graceful fluted column. It is one of the best of its class; and the three columns with their entablature form the most beautiful architectural fragment still preserved from classical Rome. [Illustration: TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION ON THE ARCH OF TITUS] [Illustration: EMPEROR TITUS]