ted the temple of Ceres with paintings and
sculptures. This temple was consecrated in B.C. 493; if its adornment
was of the same date, the knowledge of Greek art was brought to Rome at
a very early period--at least fifty-six years before the completion of
the Parthenon.

But the means by which the whole Roman people were made familiar with
the beauties of Greek art are to be found in another direction. It was
not the building of their own temples, or any work done by Greek artists
in Rome, that gave the Romans their love and appreciation for art; it
was rather the art spoils seized by their victorious leaders and brought
home to adorn and beautify every portion of the Eternal City. In B.C.
212 Marcellus carried to Rome the spoils he had taken at Syracuse; he
exhibited them in his triumphal procession, and afterward consecrated
them in the temple of Honor and Valor which he built. From this time it
was the fashion to bring home all the choice things that Roman
conquerors could seize, and the number of beautiful objects thus gained
for Rome was marvellous.

When Flaminius defeated Philip of Macedon it required two days to gather
up the spoils. After Fulvius Nobilior conquered the AEtolians he brought
Greek artists to Rome to arrange his festivities, and he exhibited five
hundred and fifteen bronze and marble statues which he had taken from
the defeated people. When Perseus of Macedon was overcome by AEmilius
Paulus it required two hundred and fifty wagons to remove the pictures
and statues alone which he displayed in his triumphal procession; among
these treasures there was a statue of Athena by Phidias himself. This
work of spoiling the Grecian cities which came into their power was
diligently carried on by Mummius, Sulla, and others, until at length the
Emperor Augustus removed many of the archaic sculptures to Rome. But the
works which best pleased the Romans were those of the later school of
Athens. The ruling gods at Rome were Mars, Bacchus, and Venus, and the
statues of these deities were much valued.

So far, to the time of Augustus, the statues and other objects removed
had been the spoils of war; but Caligula and Nero did not hesitate to go
in times of peace and act the part of robbers. The first sent a consul
in A.D. 31 with orders to bring the best works of art from Greece to
Rome to adorn his villas; Nero went so far as to send his agents to
bring even the images of the deities from the most sacred temples,