Let them perfect and elaborate their marvellous processes for making the light and the lightning their ministers for putting "a pencil of rays" into the hand of art and providing tongues of fire for the communication of intelligence; let them foretell the path of

them be satisfied with what is revealed of the mysteries of the divine nature.

ROBERT C. WINTHROP.

storm; let them hang out their gigantic pendulums and make the earth do the work of describing and measuring her own motions; let them annihilate human pain and literally "charm ache with air and agony with ether." The blessing of God will attend all their toils, and the gratitude of man will await all their triumphs.

Let them dig down into the bowels of the earth; let them rive asunder the massive rocks and unfold the history of creation as it lies written on the pages of their piled-up strata; let them gather up the fossil fragments of a lost fauna, reproducing the ancient forms which inhabited the land or the seas, bringing them together, bone to his bone, til leviathan and behemoth stand before us in bodily presence and in their full proportions, and we almost tremble lest these dry bones should live again; let them put Nature to the rack and torture her, in all her forms, to the betrayal of her inmost secrets and confidences. They need not forbear; the foundations of the round world have been laid so strong that they cannot be moved.

But let them not think by searching to find out God; let them not dream of understanding the Almighty to perfection; let them not dare apply their tests and solvents, their modes of analysis or their terms of definition, to the secrets of the spiritual kingdom; let them spare the foundations of faith. Let

ITOLINE TEMPLE OF ROME.

FROM THE GERMAN LECTURES OF BARTHOLD Georg NIEBUHR.

THE Tarpeian rock was cut quite precip

itous-a circumstance which at present is not visible everywhere, because houses of six and seven stories in height were built there, which, when demolished in the time of destruction, formed heaps of rubbish as high as two-thirds of the rock, and upon this rubbish houses were afterward erected. In one part of the rock there was a flight of one hundred steps, which was visible as late as the twelfth century.

The exact site of the Capitoline temple is a much-disputed question among antiquarians; it is strange that no ruins of it are remaining. The old opinion which was generally adopted until the time of Nardini is the true one: Fulvius, Marliani and Donati all agreed in stating that the temple was situated on the southern part of the hill; but Nardini perverts the whole matter by placing it on the north side, on the site now occupied by the church and convent of Araceli. The northern part formed the arx, as is clear from the history of the Gallic war; it was a very steep height-not a fortress, but only a strong point-and was occupied by houses of private citizens.

The Capitoline temple was built by the kings and completed by the first consuls; it was then consumed by fire in the time of

Sulla, but was restored and consecrated by Catulus. It was burnt down a second time under Vitellius, after which Vespasian rebuilt it with great splendor. Twelve years later fire again broke out, in an unaccountable manner, and Domitian restored it a third time. The immense splendor lavished upon it was probably the principal cause of its subsequent total destruction. It is scarcely possible to form any idea of its costly ornaments; the gates were of bronze covered with thick and solid plates of wrought gold. This gilding alone is said to have cost more than two millions sterling. Even the tiles which Genseric carried away were gilt.*

All ancient temples consist of two main parts, the cella and the space in front of the cella. The latter might be constructed in different ways; it might be sheltered by a roof or exposed to the open air, in which case it was enclosed by four walls or a portico all around. We generally imagine the altar to have been in the temple itself; in the ancient Christian churches (basilica) it always stood in the apsis, but in the temples it did not belong to the cella of the gods, but to the space in front of it. The cella was generally open, but could be closed; it was usually very small. The Roman tem

ples often were of extremely small dimensions, and at present I scarcely know a chapel of an equally small size, not even in Italy, where there are some incredibly little chapels; for there were temples of which the cella was only seven or eight feet in diameter. The cella contained the statue of the god, and for this reason it was necessary to have the altar outside in the centre of the space in front of the cella, which was either exposed to the open air or could easily be aired, because the statue, in consequence of the burnt sacrifices, might have become disfigured by smoke or otherwise, and because the bones and the like might easily have created foul air in the cella, and thus produced injurious effects. In the temple of the Capitoline Jupiter the cella was divided into three sacella, separated by walls, for Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. But this cella was only the smallest part of the building; the larger was the space before it, where the ordinary donaria were hung up, except the more precious gifts, which were kept in the favisse, or large catacombs under the temple in the lautumiæ. It is possible that they might still be discovered; a few traces of them are visible in the garden of Duke Caffarelli. In the twelfth century, under Pope Anacletus II., large ruins still existed, but a church was erect

letters themselves, consisting of gilt metal, were sunk into the openings. This is the method according to which the letters of inscriptions were generally put. In others the

bronze letters were nailed to the wall, traces of which are still visible on the triumphal arch at Nismes; and French

scholars have very ingeniously attempted from these holes of the nails to make out the whole inscription. In the Forum of Trajan a bronze letter has been found the gilding of which was valued at a ducat; all the rest had, of course, been carried off as plunder."

vatoris in maximis (supply ruinis), but has been destroyed long ago. Such names must always be attended to, for they often lead to important discoveries. The heaps of rubbish lying below by the side of the river belong, no doubt, to the temple; and if excavations were made, many valuable treasures might be discovered.

Translation of DR. LEONHARD SCHMITZ.