[59] Dio. L. xl.
[60] Suet. Vesp. c. 7.
[61] For authorities, see Middleton's Germana Antiq. Mon. p. 152.
[62] Pliny (L. ix. ep. 39.) acquainting his architect with his purpose to repair a temple of Ceres, which was upon his estate, says, Nullum in proximo suffugium aut imbris, aut solis. Videor ergo munifice simul religioseque facturum, si ædi, quam pulcherrimam exstruxero, addidero porticus: illam ad usum deæ, has ad hominum. That these portico's commonly inclosed the whole site of the ancient temples, as in this at Pozzuoli, seems implied in what follows: Quantum ad porticus, nihil interim occurrit, quod videatur esse istinc repetendum: nisi tamen, ut formam secundum rationem loci scribas; neque enim possunt circumdari templo: nam solum templi hinc flumine—hinc viâ cingitur.
[63] Mess. Cochin and Bellicard seem to think this room was intended for another purpose, by their calling the funnels under the holes in the seats of it, conduits des fosses d'aisance. Which of the two hypothesis's is to be preferred, I submit to the judgment of the learned; or rather, whether both of them may not be admitted, as in no-wise incompatible the one with the other.
[64] Vitruvius Lib. iii. cap. 3. Gradus in fronte ita constituendi sunt, uti sint semper impares: namque cum dextro pede primus gradus ascendatur, item in templo primus erit ponendus.
[65] The learned Abbate de Venuti, F.R.S. and Antiquary to the Pope at Rome, has lately by letter favoured me with an ingenious account of this phænomenon; tho' he mentions the granite columns only as affected by it. Cùm columnæ, quæ circumibant templum, excavarentur e terrâ, quâ erant partim abrutæ——minutissimæ conchæ, quæ ex testaceorum genere sunt, atque in saxorum rimulis prope mare reperiuntur, ideoque a vulgo Trutti di Mare appellatæ, columnas hasce (i. e. Thebaicas) quam sæpissimè perforaverant, sese componentes, veluti apes in alveari, cùm essent sejunctæ integumentis ex ipso lapide subtilissimis.—
[66] Vid. p. 168.
[67] Nec alius a Διονύσω sive sole est Δυσάρης, sive Δουσάρης, vel Δευσάρης. Quæ vox (ut suspicor) conflata ex דוץ Dutz et ארץ Aretz. Quorum prius (gaudium) alterum notat (terram) ut notat lætitiam terræ, sive mortalium. Nam Liber sive sol lætitiâ implet mortales, maturando fruges, et uvas, unde de vino sic Maro,
Munera lætitiamque Dei. Æn. i.