messenger
"), directing by her testament her heirs to dedicate in the Capitol a
portrait of Domitian, which should weigh 100 pounds of gold :—
''
Da Capitolinis seternum sedibua aurum Quo nìteat sacri centeiio pondère
vultua Caesaris, et propria? signet cultricis amorem."
Stat. Syl. V. i, 190.
This
must have been a votive clypeus, embossed with the imperial bust in
high relief, like the "very magnificent " one Antoninus subsequently
put up in honour of Hadrian. If a subordinate could offer pieces of
this costliness, some notion may be formed of the surpassing
magnitude of those coming from the superstition or vanity of noble and
imperial votaries. These donations to the temples augmented rather than
declined in amount down to the very eve of the downfall of this
time-honoured worship. Aurelian consecrated in one single temple
(doubtless that of his patron, the Sun) no less than 15,000 pounds'
weight of gold ; besides large quantities, not specified, in the other
shrines of Rome. This liberality of his is highly commended in an
eulogium upon him, beyond all suspicion of flattery, for it was
pronounced, upon the first intelligence of his death, by the Princeps
Senatus. The nature of these truly precious memorials may be
gathered from many incidental notices in the historians of the Lower
Empire. To Claudius Gothicus, besides the column and statue in silver
already mentioned, the Senate erected a Colossus in gold ten feet high,
still standing when Treb. Pollio wrote. To his successor Aurelian they
decreed, upon the news of his murder, a statue in gold, to be placed in
the Capitol ; besides three in silver, for the Senate-house, the Temple
of the Sun, and Trajan's Forum. Vopiscus notes (' Tacitus,' ix.) that
the one in gold was never made, but the three in silver were. It may be
concluded
