78

Historical Construction of Walls.

[chap.

ture of the Temple of Vespasian (No. 1670) with the chaste remains
of the Temple of Trajan (No. 815) one is irresistibly led to the con-
clusion that the former was executed in the time of Septimius Severus,
when the temple was known to have been restored. The cymatium,
corona, and spaces between the modillions of the Temple of Ves-
pasian are covered with elaborate sculpture, and even the ovolo
beneath the dentils is disguised by unnecessary foliage. If any one
be inclined to .doubt this inference, let him refer to No. 1671, the
entablature of the Temple of Concord, built by Tiberius, but restored
by Septimius Severus. This, though not quite so elaborate, evidently
belongs to the same period as that last mentioned, rather than to
the time of the successor of Augustus.
A third guide is, the character of the ornament. In the earlier
buildings, the Greek honeysuckle and other similar forms are used in
the cymatium (see Photo. 1684, and the beautiful fragments from
the Ulpian Basilica, Nos. 736, 815, and compare them with the
coarse foliage of the cornice of the third century, Nos. 872, 798).
The contrast in style is most striking. Although the earliest works
were the purest in form, I consider that the best period of Roman
architecture included the whole of the first century and the early part
of the second; and that the works of Apollodorus, in the time of
Trajan, were perhaps the finest specimens of architecture Rome pos-
sessed. There is a refinement about the execution of the fragments
(Nos. 736,815) not to be seen elsewhere in Rome; the sharpness
and beauty of the moulding, and the elegance of the ornaments, at-
test the palmy days of Roman architecture. The forum of Trajan,
with the Ulpian Basilica with its double row of granite columns (the
bases of which are in sihf the two libraries, the column of Trajan,
and the Triumphal Arch, must have formed, perhaps the most perfect
group of buildings in ancient Rome. The fate of the architect of
this splendid series of edifices is an evidence of the treatment
artists met with among the Romans. They were regarded as a
better sort of artizans, and were looked down upon much as they
are now by certain statesmen in our own land. Hadrian designed
the Temple of Venus in Rome, and Apollodorus having declared
that it was too excellent to be the design of an emperor, was put
to death for his criticism.
There is an interesting collection of ornamental details in the
Lateran Museum, illustrative of the progress and decline of art.
Some of the capitals from the villa of Lucius Verus have been
already mentioned, another (Photo. 2863) is of coarser workmanship,
though the forms of the foliage are Greek; upon it is a cornice of