of the Tiber, as this portion of the city was formerly termed, stand the remains of a temple which for centuries has passed under the name of the Temple of Vesta. It is chiefly upon poetical authority that the building has received this appellation. We learn from Ovid that Numa dedicated a temple to this goddess, and that the edifice was circular in shape; while from Horace we know that it was injured in the overflow of the Tiber.

Vidimus flavum Tiberim, retortis
Littore Etrusco violenter undis,
Ire dejectum monumenta regis
Templaque Vestæ.

From this passage it has been conjectured, and certainly with much plausibility, that the temple of which the poet speaks is no other than that represented in the

plate; which is situated between the Arch of Janus and the river, and therefore exposed to the swellings of the tide. On the other hand, we are told that it appears, from numerous and unquestionable authorities, that the Temple of Vesta stood in the Forum; and, moreover, that there was not more than one temple dedicated to that goddess in the city. It is said, also, that the passage of Horace is perfectly reconcileable with this hypothesis, since it is known that the floods from the Tiber have

But

occasionally reached the Forum. The opponents of Vesta have bestowed the temple upon Hercules. amidst the variety of conflicting arguments and proofs, tradition is, perhaps, the safest guide; and the goddess may fairly be left in possession of the fane over which she has presided for so many centuries.

Whatever disputes may exist with regard to the name of the edifice, one opinion only prevails on the subject of its elegance and beauty. It is a circular building, composed entirely of Parian marble, with a colonnade, consisting formerly of twenty fluted Corinthian columns, one of which is now wanting. The entablature and the ancient roofs have long since disappeared; and instead of the latter, a covering of coarse tiles rests upon and defaces the beautiful pillars of the building. The columns are thirty-five feet high, and the whole circumference of the building is one hundred and seventy feet. Until lately the intercolumniation was filled by a brick wall; but this odious deformity was removed by the French. Within the colonnade is a circular cella of white marble, the stones of which are so skilfully joined as to give to the whole the appearance of one mass. It was con