It is probably in allusion to this temple that Propertius says:
"Armaque quum tulero portæ votiva Capenæ,
Subscribam, salvo grata puella viro."
Prop. iv. Eleg. 3.
Martial alludes to a little temple of Hercules near this:
"Capena grandi porta qua pluit gutta,
Phrygiæque Matris Almo qua lavat ferrum,
Horatiorum qua viret sacer campus,
Et qua pusilli fervet Herculis fanum."
Mart. iii. Ep. 47.
Near the gate also stood the tomb of the murdered sister of the Horatii,[192] with the temples of Honour and Virtue, vowed by Marcellus and dedicated by his son,[193] and a fountain, dedicated to Mercury:
"Est aqua Mercurii portæ vicina Capenæ;
Si juvat expertis credere, numen habet.
Huc venit incinctus tunicas mercator, et urna
Purus suffita, quam ferat, haurit aquam.
Uda fit hinc laurus: lauro sparguntur ab uda
Omnia, quæ dominos sunt habitura novos."
Ovid, Fast. v. 673.
It was at the Porta Capena that the survivor of the Horatii met his sister.
"Horatius went home at the head of the army, bearing his triple spoils. But as they were drawing near to the Capenian gate, his sister came out to meet him. Now she had been betrothed in marriage to one of the Curiatii, and his cloak, which she had wrought with her own hands, was borne on the shoulders of her brother; and she knew it, and cried aloud, and wept for him she had loved. At the sight of her tears Horatius was so wrath that he drew his sword, and stabbed his sister to the heart; and he said, 'So perish the Roman maiden who shall weep for her country's enemy!'"—Arnold's Hist. of Rome, i. 16.
Among the many other historical scenes with which the Porta Capena is connected, we may remember that it was here that Cicero was received in triumph by the senate and people of Rome, upon his return from banishment B.C. 57.