altar had been erected on the spot
where Caesar's body had been burned, and the new temple was so placed
that the altar was included in its boundaries, occupying a niche in the
centre of the front line of the substructure. The temple had the usual
history of destruction and rebuilding in antiquity until in early
Christian times it was used for secular purposes, and the eyesore of the
pagan altar was removed by building a wall across the front, the
diameter of the semicircular niche, and by roofing the altar over on a
level with the existing platform. Thus the altar with its historical and
religious associations was entirely lost sight of, and though the temple
in its main outlines had long been excavated, the altar was not
discovered until 1898, when the wall was broken through and the whole
thing laid bare. Thus by the vote of the Senate, the appointment of a
priest, the setting apart of a holy day in the year, and the building of
a temple, the worship of the god Julius was established; but it was the
general irresistible tendency toward emperor-worship which kept it alive
and made it the model for a tremendous subsequent development. Augustus
had accomplished his desire. Men were looking on Caesar as a success
after all and not as a failure. The _Di Manes_ of a murdered emperor had
been profitably exchanged for the Divus Julius, and just as the gods had
founded the old Rome of Romulus, so again it was a god who had laid the
foundations of the empire over which his successor was ruling.

But Augustus was not content with this; it was all very well for men to
look upon the god Caesar as an illustration of justification after
death, as an example of how heaven could right the wrongs of earthly
existence, but that was not sufficient; the punishment of those who
caused his earthly downfall must be emphasised, it must be shown that
the gods were quite as much interested in punishing the sinner as in
rewarding the righteous man who was sinned against. It was one thing to
transfer one's ancestors to the gods, it was quite another thing to take
measures to keep oneself from following in their footsteps, even though
their last estate was theoretically desirable. Hence side by side with
the cult of the Divus Julius went that of Mars Ultor, Mars the Avenger.
The circumstances of the beginning of the cult show that it was no mere
poetical title but a genuine cult-name born in an earnest moment: for
the great temple subsequently bu