Just at the foot of the hill is the Temple of Jupiter Tonans, three columns of which only remain. Formerly, this was buried by the rubbish forming the slope of the hill, to two thirds of the height of the columns, the pavement of this temple having been about 36 feet below that of the tabularium. The French have cleared away the ground, and various buildings, and in this operation have exposed the above described basement of the Capitol, of which only a very small fragment could previously have been visible. The French conferred, says my friend Mr. Sharp, a great many benefits on the Italians, but the greatest of all was in going away. An antiquary might be disposed to wish, that this had been deferred two or three years more, as far at least as relates to Rome. The excavations are not however, entirely discontinued, but they are not carried on with the same spirit as formerly. Palladio has made of this building a magnificent octastyle, dipteral temple, with nine columns on the sides, and with the side intercolumniations equal to those of the front. One is inclined to hope at least, that these early Italian architects had better grounds to go upon for their restorations than the imperfect fragments which remain to the present day; but here unfortunately his testimony is contradicted by the existing remains, for there is not space for his building between the remaining portion of the front, and the foundations of the Capitol. Uggeri, with more probability, and assisted by an ancient medal, has restored it as a hexastyle, peripteral temple, with smaller intercolumniations on the sides than in the front, as is the fact, with respect to the two columns of the flank, which are still erect. These columns afford a curious testimony of the luxury of magnificence, if I may use the expression, of the Roman architecture: the spaces between the dentils are very deeply cut upwards and backwards, to produce, I suppose, a depth of shade; the ovoli are laid on leaves, and hollowed out behind, so as to touch only at two points; and on the face of these ovoli, there is a minute carving of flowers. The frieze is ornamented with the insignia of sacrifice, and the patera, the vase, and the helmet, of the high priest, are all ornamented with minute carving, which is undistinguishable from below. That on the helmet of the priest represents a winged thunderbolt, and serves to identify the temple. In the front, the architrave and frieze are united in one large tablet, to receive the inscription; but this was probably an alteration on occasion of some repairs. An ancient ascent to the Capitol, the pavement of which is now exposed, passed close by this temple, but several feet below its pavement, and did not leave room for a regular flight of steps in the front; some steps therefore are put in between the columns of the portico, and the others ascended laterally on the side of the building, ending in a platform extending along the front, at the foot of the first mentioned steps. There are some remains of the construction which supported these steps, and of the basement mouldings, yet their arrangement is not perfectly clear.
Almost as near to the eye as the temple of Jupiter Tonans, stands that which used to have the name of Concord, but which now is rather attributed to Fortune. That it was not the temple of Concord, is however much more certain than what it was. The inscription Senatus populusque Romanus incendio consumptum restituit, has been thought to indicate a republican æra, since there is no mention of any emperor; but the architecture contradicts any such idea, and the present remains are now, with more probability, assigned to the fourth century. They consist of eight granite columns on an elevated basement, which is nearly hid by the accumulation of rubbish. One of these columns appears to be inverted; the other materials are very various, and among them are fragments of some edifice of a better period, and some very rude attempts at imitating them. Even these imitations seem not necessary to the edifice, and perhaps are fragments themselves, not much preceding the destruction of the temple by fire. The capitals are singular; they have been called Ionic, but that epithet can hardly be applied to them with justice. Some of them have belonged to a prior building, and are pretty well executed; others are ill-made imitations to complete the number wanted.
At a very little distance is the Arch of Septimius Severus, famous among other things for the erasure of the name of Geta, which is traced in the inscription. These triumphal arches are not in a very pure style of architecture, but they are rich and handsome objects; four projecting columns adorn each face, and the entablature breaks round each of them. Above these columns are supposed to have been statues, and in the arch of Constantine such still exist, but here they must have had a singular effect, as the tablet and inscription extend the whole length of the building, and the statues would have interrupted, and in part even concealed it. The top is supposed to have been surmounted by a triumphal car. The shafts of these columns are of cipollino, and in some of them large pieces of the marble have scaled off, and they have been repaired with brick, which has given occasion to some of my countrymen to discover that the marble columns of Rome were merely brick, coated with marble; the whole face of the work between the columns is covered with bas-reliefs, now much decayed, and probably always very bad, both in design and execution, yet contributing to the magnificence of the edifice.
At a very little distance from this arch, but not coming into any general view, are the Mamertine prisons, supposed to have been built originally by Ancus Martius, but an inscription assigns the present edifice to C. Vibius Rufus, and M. Cocceius Nerva, in the year of Rome 775. They consist of two dungeons, one below the other, in the lowest of which is a small spring, said to have arisen miraculously at the command of St. Peter, in order to baptize the keepers, Saints Processus and Martinianus, whom he had converted. These dungeons are covered with a vault, which as well as the walls, is of peperino, and if the tradition which assigns their erection to Ancus Martius be very uncertain, the style and materials of the work announce the early origin at least of all the lower part.
On the other side of the arch of Septimius, is the column dedicated to the emperor Phocas, as has been recently determined from an inscription exposed by the excavations made there, at the expense of the Duchess of Devonshire. The column itself has been taken from some more ancient building, and is placed on a pedestal, with steps up to it on all sides. Fragments of two other honorary columns, and the pedestals supporting them, and appearing to have been arranged symmetrically with this, have also been discovered, and numerous fragments, some of them of good architecture, have been dug up here, but these are entirely unconnected with the column, or with one another. Marble fragments of beautiful architecture, on the slope of the hill above the arch of Septimius, are thought to announce the situation of the true temple of Concord, but fragments alone remain.
These are the nearer objects of this most interesting view; at a greater distance are the temple of Saturn, that of Antoninus and Faustina, of Romulus and Remus. I give you the names by which they are usually known, without attending to their correctness. Then appear some fragments, of nobody knows what. The temple of Peace, the Coliseum, the arch of Titus, the Palatine hill, half covered with shapeless masses of ruin, the Curia Hostilia, and the three beautiful columns which remain of the temple of Jupiter Stator. You seem to burst at once upon the glories of the ancient city, but prostrate in the dust we admire the mighty limbs and giant bulk. I shall not confine myself to the appearance of these as seen from one spot, but carry you to each.
The Temple of Saturn, or the Ærarium, or the Basilica of Paulus Æmilius, or the Church of St. Adrian, which is certainly an old name, presents nothing ancient but a lofty front of brickwork, exemplifying the Roman passion for introducing blind arches, even when useless, or injurious. I shall say more of these hereafter, but the construction is of imperial Rome, and has no pretension to a republican date. The erection or transformation into a church, is attributed to Pope Onorius the First.
The Temple of Antoninus is a much more interesting monument; the portico of six columns in front, and two on each flank still exists, not indeed entire, but so as to exhibit almost every part. These columns are of cipollino, and are very beautiful, but have been terribly maltreated by those who at one period made them part of their habitations. Parts of the sides also remain, exhibiting the construction of the wall of great blocks of peperino, apparently once covered with marble. The frieze is beautiful, but I need not tell you about a thing which has been so often figured and described. The cornice is, I believe, the only good ancient example of the Corinthian order, which has neither dentils nor modillions, indeed, in all the parts, we find a breadth and simplicity of character which was hardly to be expected in the age of the Antonines.
On the same side of the way is the Church of the Saints Cosmo and Damiano, said to have been anciently the temple of Romulus and Remus. The entrance is by a plain, but handsome, ancient bronze door. It is however, doubtful, whether this belonged originally to the building. By this, you pass into the vestibule, a circular room covered with a dome, the width and height of which in the present state, are about equal, but the pavement has been considerably raised. This is, I think, all that can pretend to any relation with the ancient temple, and whether it was really a temple dedicated to Romulus and Remus, must remain doubtful. Here were discovered the fragments of the marble plan of Rome, now deposited in the Capitol. Beyond this is a nave of the seventeenth century, erected by Urban the Eighth; at least what we see internally is of that period. Externally, we may discover some ancient walls of great blocks of peperino, but not sufficient, or not sufficiently exposed, to enable us to understand their distribution. Beyond the nave is the ancient tribune, covered with mosaics. The Roman antiquaries consider the dedication of this church to two brothers, a proof that the original building was a temple of two brothers, and consequently of Romulus and Remus. Unfortunately, the ancient church had no connexion with the vestibule, which is the only remaining part of Roman times, and the union was not effected till the restorations by Urban the Eighth. The argument therefore makes against their proposition. The old walls of peperino may indeed have belonged to such a temple, but neither do these appear to have had any connexion with the circular building in front.
Nearly opposite to this, (but we have already passed a little too far) are three columns of Jupiter Stator, or of Castor and Pollux, or of the Comitia, for all these names have been assigned to them. The Roman antiquaries are much more successful in oppugning the opinions of others, than in establishing their own. However, the plan which has been pretty completely discovered by the excavations lately made, determines it, although deficient in the usual number of columns at the sides, to have been a temple; and the opinions of the wise seem to lean to Castor and Pollux, as rebuilt by Tiberius, though I believe some other notions are still floating among them. The vulgar call it by the name of Jupiter Stator, and we will if you please follow the vulgar, as this is the name by which it is most generally known. Whatever it was, we may fairly pronounce it to have been the most perfect building of which any remains now exist in Rome. I do not mean the most beautiful, for in that, tastes may differ; but that in which science, skill, and attention, have been most carefully and invariably employed in the design, in the drawing, and in the execution. In the capitals of Mars Ultor, the arrangement of the division of the leaves is differently managed, even in parts of the same capital, apparently from mere inattention; in the fragment of Jupiter Tonans, though the execution was laboured to excess, yet some parts of the drawing are faulty; and in the portico of the Pantheon, the execution was so much neglected, that no two intercolumniations are exactly alike; there are considerable differences in the capitals, and in the pediment there is one modillion more on one side than on the other. There is no appearance of any of these faults in Jupiter Stator, and there are no other buildings we can put into comparison with it, unless it be the Forum of Trajan, of which we have not sufficient remains to enable us fairly to institute a parallel. Of the general design indeed, we have hardly in any case materials for judging, but the plan and disposition of this temple, bear at least evidence of a careful consideration. The building is of white marble, so that the substance, as well as the workmanship, contributed to the effect of magnificence. The entablature is finely proportioned. It is decidedly Roman in taste, which some persons perhaps may think a defect, and others consider a beauty. The frieze is plain, while one band of the architrave is ornamented; this deviation from the usual practice does not seem to me well judged. In the Erectheum at Athens, we find a plain frieze accompanied with a great deal of ornament, not on, but below the architrave; but in that case the frieze was of black marble, and though now unadorned, the holes in it prove it to have been once enriched with figures of metal, probably of gilt bronze. There is no appearance of any thing of this sort in the temple of Jupiter Stator. The foliage of the capital is extremely different from that of the Pantheon, or indeed of any other example in Rome, presenting much broader and flatter surfaces to the light; whether this is better or worse, I will not pretend to determine, but I may assert that the present is very beautiful. The upper tooth of each division of the leaves hardly crosses the lower side of the division above; the second touches without crossing. Mons. Caristie of the French Academy, is at present engaged in making a restoration of this building, and for that purpose following out the minutest details with the greatest care and accuracy; it was he who pointed out to me many of the particulars I am going to mention.