Plate 72. The Temple of Mars Ultor and the Basilica of Antoninus

As the erection of the great Temple dedicated to Mars Ultor falls in the age of Augustus, our consideration of the same should really have followed after the Pantheon, but as its order is no more preserved in its entirety, we consider the portion yet existing, here at the end of our discussion of the monuments in the Corinthian style.

Three columns and a pilaster with one-third their length buried in the ground, and the architrave and frieze thereover, all worked out of white marble, are the only parts that have been preserved. The capital, ornamental and strong, is even as commendable as those of the Pantheon. The leaf-heads have a large mass, and the leaf-laps are pointed with only four olive leaves, those on the lower part of the leaf-urn from which spring the volutes, having but three. The architrave is also excellent and of a purity not excelled by any Roman example, and seems to have answered as a model for Vitruvius. It is to be regretted that the remaining portions of the entablature are no longer in existence.

The second example from the Basilica of Antoninus is of a Corinthian order of later times. The capital no longer has those excellent proportions; the second row of leaves is too high, and the volute and the abacus are too weak and too far overhanging. The architrave is commendable. The frieze has a swell, which was either intended for carving or was used as the most economical method of filling in a plain surface. At the time of the decline this unnatural method was often resorted to. The soffit is shown on Plate 87.