CHAP. 7.—ORNAMENTS OF THE TEMPLES MADE OF BRASS.
The ancients were in the habit of making the door-sills and even the doors of the temples of brass. I find it stated, also, that Cneius Octavius, who obtained a naval triumph over King Perseus,1249 erected the double portico to the Flaminian Circus, which was called the “Corinthian” from the brazen capitals of the pillars.1250 It is stated also, that an ordinance was made that the Temple of Vesta1251 should be covered with a coating of Syracusan metal. The capitals, too, of the pillars, which were placed by M. Agrippa in the Pantheon, are made of similar metal. Even the opulence, too, of private individuals has been wrested to similar purposes. Spurius Carvilius, the quæstor, among the other charges which he brought against Camillus,1252 accused him of having brazen doors in his house.