The Romans built their temples in this wise: The augur--that is to say, the priest who read the future in the flight of birds--traced in the sky with his short staff a spacious square, which he then marked on the soil. Stakes were at once fixed along the four lines, and draperies were hung between the stakes. In the midst of this space, the area or inclosure of the temple, the augur marked out a cross--the augural cross, indicating the four cardinal points; the transverse lines fixed the limits of the _cella_; the point where the two branches met was the place for the door, and the first stone was deposited on the threshold. Numerous lighted lamps illuminated these ceremonies, after which the chief priest, the _pontifex maximus_, consecrated the area, and from that moment it became settled and immovable. If it crumbled, it must be rebuilt on the same spot, and the least change made, even should it be to enlarge it, would be regarded as a profanation. Thus had the dwelling of the god that rises before us at the extremity of the Forum been consecrated. Like most of the Roman temples, this edifice is elevated on a foundation (the _podium_), and turned toward the north. One ascends to it by a flight of steps that cuts in the centre a platform where, perhaps, the altar stood. Upon the _podium_ there remain some vestiges of the twelve columns that formed the front portico or _pronaos_. Twelve columns, did I say?--three on each side, six in front; always an even number at the facades, so that a central column may not mask the doorway and that the temple may be freely entered by the intercolumnar middle space. To the right and the left of the steps were pedestals that formerly sustained statues probably colossal. Behind the _pronaos_ could be recognized the place where the _cella_ used to be. Nothing remains of it now but the mosaic pavement and the walls. Traces of columns enable us to reconstruct this sanctuary richly. We can there raise--and it has been done on paper--two colonnades--the first one of the Ionic order, supporting a gallery; the second of the Corinthian order, sustaining the light wooden platform of painted wood which no longer exists. The walls, covered with stucco, still retain pretty decorative paintings. Three small subterranean chambers, of very solid construction, perhaps contained the treasury and archives of the State, or something else entirely different--why not those of the temple? In those times the Church was rich; the Saviour had not ordained poverty as its portion. [Illustration: THE FORUM.]