108 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. ' [aNNO 1757. 



Stand the statue of a satyr in an unnatural action with a goat, which was found 

 at Herculaneum, and is, they say, of exquisite sculpture, but concealed in the 

 palace above-mentioned with the same strict care as the former. In the grand 

 entrance, having passed through the corridor above described, we come to a 

 square court, or atrium, paved with large slabs of white marble streaked with 

 blue or greyish veins. At the distance of 25 feet further, in the centre of the 

 court, stood the temple properly so called, containing a circular area of 54 feet 

 diameter, and elevated above the level of the pavement, so as to admit an ascent 

 to it of 5 steps, in 4 different parts, answering to the 4 sides of the corridor. 

 This area is surrounded with 1 6 pedestals, on which formerly were columns to 

 support a rotundo or dome. Against each of these columns, on the outside, 

 there seems to have been placed a statue, and, in the intermediate spaces, vases 

 for incense, or lavers for washing, on low stands on the floor. In the middle of 

 the temple was erected the grand altar, the traces of which still remain, with 

 a sink or drain near it to receive and carry off the blood of the victims, &c. 

 Northward of the temple, and at the distance of 25 feet, being the same 

 space that was between it and the corridor at the entrance, was once another 

 vestibule or pavilion, supported by 4 columns 4 feet and a half in diameter, 

 and of the Corinthian order, as appears by 3 of them which still subsist stand- 

 ing in a line with the outer face of the corridor. This pavilion (if we may judge 

 by analogy from what we find in other temples) led to an inner recess or sacra- 

 rium, terminating probably in the segment of a circle: but of this we had 

 no certain proof, as the rubbish was not yet removed from this part of the 

 building. 



I beg leave, says Mr. N. further to mention a remarkable appearance in some 

 of the columns of this temple, viz. that that part of them which was lowest, as 

 well as that which was nearest the capitals, is well preserved and pretty entire ; 

 while part of the intermediate space, for two or three feet together, is disco- 

 loured, as if it had suffered by burning ; and also excavated in such a manner 

 as to contain multitudes of little shell-fish, which appear, like the pholades in 

 some stones, almost totally inclosed within their cells, so as not to be got 

 out without breaking. I know no way to account for this so probable, as by 

 supposing that the lower parts of these columns were secured by the mass of 

 rubbish that inclosed them, as the uppermost were, by their elevated situation, 

 from being perforated either by the corrosive quality of th^ sea, which (according 

 to tradition) formerly covered the site of this temple, or by the animalcula bred 

 in that element ; while the middle parts standing in the water were (perhaps for 

 ages) exposed to the injuries mentioned above. I had no opportunity of taking 

 the height of the uppermost line, where the above-mentioned alteration in the 

 columns ended from the level of the sea in the bay ; which would have showed 



