quum intro abiisset in domum plenam,
et esset luctus ob memoriam sapientis,
viri instar adamantis, qui tulit
omnis generis calamitates, quum esset
viduus matris meæ
[qui erat] fons pellucidus, nomen
purum a facinore. Exstruxit in
pietate filius patri.
There was a second Corinthian temple situated on a plateau overlooking the valley beneath, from which it must have been a very imposing object. It is now almost entirely destroyed, but the plan of the cella is still visible, and many columns are lying scattered about, as also fragments of the inscription which decorated the frieze. It seems to have been much more entire when Peyssonnel visited it in 1724. He says: ‘There are the remains of a temple, which was an arc open in the middle. It had a great façade of about 100 paces in breadth. The temple was of a semi-circular shape. The façade was supported by columns, and the columns again supported a corridor all round the temple. On these columns there had been large stones inscribed with Roman characters, but we could not collect enough pieces to make out the sense, as everything was destroyed and overthrown. In the middle of the temple there had been an altar raised about six feet and four feet broad. All this débris indicated a great magnificence and a good taste in architecture, and a style more beautiful than that of Zawan (Zaghouan), although of a form very closely resembling it.’[218]
Plate XXV.