t of these were built of rough stones; those of
later periods took the characteristic shape of the altar of Verminus,
represented on page 52 of my "Ancient Rome," and of the altar raised
to Vedjovis by the members of the Julian family, at Bovillae, their
birthplace, where it was found by the Colonnas in 1823. It is now in
the villa of that family on the Quirinal.[40] In imperial times the
conventional shape was preserved, with the addition of two _pulvini_,
or volutes, on the opposite edges of the cornice, as represented in
the illustration on page 35 of "Ancient Rome" (a marble altar found at
Ostia).

[Illustration: A Pelasgic hieron, or platform of altar, at Segni.]

[Illustration: Round Temple of Hercules in the Forum Boarium.]

THE ARA MAXIMA HERCULIS. This altar, the oldest in Rome, was raised in
memory of the visit of Hercules to our country. Tacitus and Pliny
attribute its construction to Evander the Arcadian, forgetting that in
prehistoric times the tract of land on which the altar stood, between
the Forum Boarium and the Circus Maximus, was submerged by the waters
of the Velabrum. It was at all events a very ancient structure, held
in great veneration. Its rough shape and appearance were never
changed, as shown by a precious--yet unpublished--sketch by
Baldassarre Peruzzi which I found among his autographs in Florence. A
round temple was built near the altar, in later times, of which we
know two particulars: first, that it had a mysterious power of
repulsion for dogs and flies;[41] second, that it contained, among
other works of art, a picture by the poet Pacuvius, next in antiquity
and value to the one painted by Fabius Pictor, in the Temple of
Health, in 303 B. C.[42] The Temple of Hercules, the Ara Maxima, and
the bronze statue of the hero-god were discovered, in a good state of
preservation, during the pontificate of Sixtus IV., between the apse
of S. Maria in Cosmedin (the Temple of Ceres), and the Circus Maximus.
We have a description of the discovery by Pomponio Leto, Albertini,
and Fra Giocondo da Verona; and excellent drawings by Baldassarre
Peruzzi.[43]

Except the bronze statue, and a few votive inscriptions, which were
removed to the Capitoline Museum, everything--temple, altar, and
platform--was levelled to the ground by the illustrious Vandals of the
Renaissance.

THE ROMA QUADRATA. According to the ancient ritual, the founder of a
city, after tracing the _sulcus primigenius_ or furrow w