DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55699#0217
TEMPLE OF PEACE. 173
placing within its walls some valuable portion of his
property.
From the scanty records which remain respecting the
original plan of this famous edifice, it is hardly possible
to give an idea of its former grandeur. Three massy
walls are all that now exist of the sumptuous temple
which astonished the haughty Persian ambassador by its
magnificence. The last of the eight pillars which adorned
its front was removed, by the order of Pope Paul V., to
the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, where it supports
an image of the Virgin. The whole length of the building
was about three hundred feet, and its breadth about two
hundred. In the interior the walls were lined with gilded
bronze and paintings by the most celebrated artists.
Among the latter was the famous one of Protogones,
who, in endeavouring to finish the figure of a dog and
to add the foam which was supposed to have fallen
from its mouth, was almost driven mad himself by find-
ing all his efforts unsuccessful. At length losing all pa-
tience, he flung his brush with great fury at the picture,
when, to his delight, he saw that he had, by that means,
painted the foam to admiration. There is also said to
have been an extensive library in this temple, which ob-
tained for it the respect of the learned, as its other riches
did the admiration of the curious.
The goddess of Peace was worshipped in very early
times by the Greeks ; and she had a temple in Athens,
built, it is said, by Cimon, in commemoration of his vic-
tory over the Persians. It is a singular circumstance
that the Romans should not have had a place for her
worship till so late a period as the reign of Vespasian, or
placing within its walls some valuable portion of his
property.
From the scanty records which remain respecting the
original plan of this famous edifice, it is hardly possible
to give an idea of its former grandeur. Three massy
walls are all that now exist of the sumptuous temple
which astonished the haughty Persian ambassador by its
magnificence. The last of the eight pillars which adorned
its front was removed, by the order of Pope Paul V., to
the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, where it supports
an image of the Virgin. The whole length of the building
was about three hundred feet, and its breadth about two
hundred. In the interior the walls were lined with gilded
bronze and paintings by the most celebrated artists.
Among the latter was the famous one of Protogones,
who, in endeavouring to finish the figure of a dog and
to add the foam which was supposed to have fallen
from its mouth, was almost driven mad himself by find-
ing all his efforts unsuccessful. At length losing all pa-
tience, he flung his brush with great fury at the picture,
when, to his delight, he saw that he had, by that means,
painted the foam to admiration. There is also said to
have been an extensive library in this temple, which ob-
tained for it the respect of the learned, as its other riches
did the admiration of the curious.
The goddess of Peace was worshipped in very early
times by the Greeks ; and she had a temple in Athens,
built, it is said, by Cimon, in commemoration of his vic-
tory over the Persians. It is a singular circumstance
that the Romans should not have had a place for her
worship till so late a period as the reign of Vespasian, or