Page:EB1911 - Volume 23.djvu/623

Rh sacrificulus performed his functions in the Comitium, and the inscription may refer to him. This may be the stele to which Dionysius of Halicarnassus refers as marking the tomb of Hostus Hostilius (father of Tullus Hostilius) whose site (according to those who believed in the translation of Romulus to heaven) was marked by the lapis niger.

Near the middle of the north-east side of the Forum stood also the small bronze temple of Janus, the doors of which were shut

on those rare occasions when Rome was at peace. A first brass of Nero shows it as a small cella, with richly ornamented frieze and cornice. Another aedicula near that of Janus was the shrine of Venus Cloacina (or the Purifier), on the line of the cloaca which runs under the Basilica Aemilia;