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