e was composed of a square tabernacle supported by eight
columns of red porphyry, with a dome of gilt bronze. Peacocks,
dolphins, and flowers, also of gilt bronze, were placed on the four
architraves, from which jets of water flowed into the basin below. The
border of the basin was made of ancient marble bas-reliefs,
representing panoplies, griffins, etc. On the top of the structure
were semicircular bronze ornaments worked "a jour," that is, in open
relief, without background, and crowned by the monogram of Christ.
This gem of the art of the sixth century was ruthlessly destroyed by
Paul V. The eight columns of porphyry, one of which was ornamented
with an imperial bust in high relief, have disappeared, and so have
the bas-reliefs of the border of the fountain, although Grimaldi
claims to have saved one. The bronzes were removed to the garden of
the Vatican, but, with the exception of the pine-cone and two
peacocks, they were doomed to share the fate of the marbles. In 1613
the semicircular pediments, the four dolphins, two of the peacocks,
and the dome were melted to provide the ten thousand pounds of metal
required for the casting of the statue of the Madonna which was placed
by Paul V. on the column of S. Maria Maggiore.

[Illustration: The Fountain of Symmachus.]

The most important monument of the atrium, after the fountain, was the
tomb of the emperor Otho II. ([Symbol: Died] 983), or what was
believed to be his tomb, as some contemporary writers attribute it to
Cencio, prefect of Rome, who died 1077. The body lay in a marble
sarcophagus, which was screened by slabs of serpentine, the whole
being surmounted by a porphyry cover supposed to have come from
Hadrian's mausoleum. The mosaic picture above represented the Saviour
between SS. Peter and Paul. This historical monument was demolished by
Carlo Maderno in the night of October 20, 1610. The coffin was removed
to the Quirinal and turned into a water-trough. Grimaldi saw it last,
near the entrance gate from the side of the Via dei Maroniti. The
panels of serpentine were used in the new building, the picture of the
Saviour was removed to the Grotte; the cover of porphyry was turned
upside down, and made into a baptismal font.

The church was entered by five doors, named respectively (from left to
right) the Porta _Iudicii_, _Ravenniana_, _argentea_ or _regia maior_,
_Romana_, and _Guidonea_. The first was called the "Judgment Door,"
because funerals entered or