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THE PANTHEON.

I come to the Pantheon, the pride of Rome, and the admiration of every person of taste. From its circular form, it is now generally known by the name of the Rotonda. Though robbed of the greatest part of its precious ornaments, and after the many alterations it has undergone, it still remains the most. complete and most magnificent of all the ancient temples to be seen at Rome. The Romans, having adopted the gods and superstitions of all the countries which they conquered, naturally erected a temple to the whole for such is the meaning of Pantheon.

On the frieze of the portico, or porch, is inscribed, in large. letters.

M. AGRIPPA . L. F. COS: TERTIVM FECIT.

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But whether Agrippa built the whole of this vast temple, or only added the portico, has been made a matter of doubt. Palladio indeed thinks that the body of the Pantheon was built in the time of the republic. At any rate, the addition of the portico must have been an after thought, for the original frontispiece or pediment, of small projection, is still to be seen above Agrippa's portico.

That this temple had been repaired by Septimius Severus, and his son M. Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus, better known by the name of Caracalla, about two hundred years after the. time of Agrippa, appears from the following inscription, in small characters, to be seen on the architrave.

Lib. 4. c. 20.

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No. 13.

IMP . CAESAR. SEPTIMIVS. SEVERVS. PIVS. PERTINAX. ARABIC. ADIABENIC. PARTHIC.
PONTIF. MAXTRIB. POT. XI. COS. III. P. P. PROCOS.-ET

IMP. CAES. M. AVRELIVS. ANTONINVS. PIVS. FELIX. AUG. TRIB. POT. v. COS: PROCOS:
PANTHEVM. VETVSTATE. CORRVPTVM. CVM. OMNI CVLTV. RESTITVERVNT.

From this inscription, it is evident that this temple is the Pantheon, and that it had suffered from age. But with what propriety could such a building be said to have suffered from age, had it been all built by Agrippa! Is not this an indication that the body of the temple was constructed long prior to the time of the son-in-law of Augustus? But by whom it was first built or to what deity or deities it was afterwards dedicated, I have not been able to ascertain. Pliny* indeed says, that Agrippa dedicated it to Jupiter the Avenger-" Pantheon Jovi ultori ab Agrippa factum."-Some antiquaries suppose it was built by Scipio Nasica, about the year of Rome 555, in honour of Cybelé, and that, from the mother of the gods, it was called Pantheon but I find no sufficient authority for that opinion.

But, supposing the body of the Pantheon to have been built in the time of the republic, yet is it not highly probable that Agrippa, when he added the noble portico, renewed the interior of the temple, and decorated it with the rich ornaments, mentioned by ancient writers? May he not therefore, in some measure, be considered as the author of the whole?

From Dio Cassius, it appears that Agrippa wished to place the statue of Augustus in the Pantheon, and to have inscribed his name as author of this superb temple, which the emperor

Hist. Nat. 1. 36. c. 15.

Lib. 53. c. 22.

+ Livy, lib. 29. c. 14.

modestly declined. Agrippa therefore placed the statue of Julius Cæsar in the Pantheon, among the gods and the statues of Augustus and himself in the great niches under the portico.

The Pantheon was given by the Emperor Phocas to Boniface IV. elected Pope in the year 608, who converted it into a Christian church, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary, and to all the martyrs.*

Notwithstanding the constant tradition that the Pantheon was a temple, and that it contains in itself every indication that it was such; yet Father Lazzari, to show his ability to defend a paradox, pretends that it was not a temple, but only part of Agrippa's baths. The principal reason with which he attempts to support his singular opinion is, that, had it been a temple, the zeal of the primitive Christians would have destroyed one so remarkable, dedicated to all the gods; especially as they were, he says, authorised to do so, by a law of Theodosius II. But this law seems to relate only to the abolishing the superstitious worship and use of temples, and not to the buildings themselves, many of which, if their size permitted, were converted into Christian churches. Indeed, Theodosius's edict only renewed what Arcadius and Honorius had done before him: for when they condemned sacrificing, they did not order the buildings to be destroyed, but commanded them to be preserved." Sicut sacrificia templorum pro

*See Platina's life of Boniface IV.

"Della consecrazione del Pantheon, fatta da Bonifazio IV. discorso di Pietro Lazzari, della compagnia di Gesu.” 1749.

Codex Theodos. 1. 16. tit. 10. sect. 7.

See page 9.

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