Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/344

 312 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. Part I. pi-edominance of Grecian taste, which was gradually dying out during the whole period of the Empire. It is to be regretted that the exact dates of both these temples are unknown, for, as that at Tivoli sliows the stoutest example of a Corinthian eohunn known and that in Rome the slenderest, it might lead to some important deductions if Ave could be certain which was the older of the two. It may be, however, that this difference of style has no connection with the relative age of the two buildings, but that it is merely an instance of the good taste of the age to which they belong. The Roman example, being placed in a low and flat situation, required all the height that could be given it ; that at Tivoli, being placed on the edge of a rock, required as much solidity as the order would admit of to prevent its looking poor and insecure. A Gothic or a Greek architect would certainly have made this distinction. One more step towards the modern style of round temples was taken before the fall of the Western Empire, in the temple which Diocletian built in his palace at Spalatro. Inter- nally the temple is circular, 28 ft. in diameter, and the height of the per- pendicular part to the springing of the dome is about equal to its width. This is a much more pleasing propor- tion than we find in the Pantheon ; ])erhai)S the very best that has yet been employed. Externally the build- ing is an octagon, surrounded by a low dwarf peristyle, very unlike that ^^ _^^ employed in the older examples. This 194. Plan and Elevation (if Temple in ano'ularity is Certainly a great im- Uiocletian"s Palace at Spalatro. ^ . . . ■, Scale for Plan UK) ft. to 1 in.; for Eieva- provement, givuig expression and tion ou t. u m. character to the building, and afford- ing flat faces for the entrances or i)orches ; but the peristyle is too low, and mars the dignity of the Avhole. ^ To us its i)rincipal interest consists in its being so extremely simi- lar to the Christian baptisteries Avhich were erected in the following centuries, ami which Avere copies, but very slightly altered, from build in fjs of this class. Athens. Even assuming that Hadrian completed the great Temple of Venus al I'ome in the manner generally su])posed, it must have been very ^ This huildini,' is commonly ciilled a pression is that it was a tomb, or at temple, though it is not known to what least a funereal monument of some sort, deity it was dedicated. My own im- I