I 
[ r6 7 ] 
(as it was judged by the principal (2) idol found there, 
and fome other circumdances) was dedicated to Se- 
rapis. They tell us further, that many datues and 
vafes of excellent workmanfhip had been taken out 
of the ruins ; and that the whole temple was ex- 
tremely magnificent, being built, or cafed through- 
out, with marble, even to the parts appropriated to 
the meaned offices. 
This account, tho’ ffiort, is yet fufficient to excite 
in the curious a defire to be more fully informed, 
both as to the ancient and modern date of this place. 
To gratify in fome meafure that defire is the pur- 
pofe of the prefent letter. 
In order to form any conjecture concerning 
the antiquity of the building before us, we mud 
know, that the worfhip of Serapis, to whom it is 
fuppofed to have been confecrated, was not intro- 
duced at Rome till towards the end of the republic;, 
and then tolerated in the fuburbs only (3). How- 
ever, at length he was allowed to have temples 
ereCted to him within the precinCts of the city ; 
chiefly by the authority of Vefpafian, who was 
thought to have redored a blind man (4) to his fight 
at Alexandria by the aid and direction of this deity. 
And upon this account he continued to be held in 
high veneration by Titus and Domitian, the fons of 
that Emperor, as appears by their (5) damping his 
(2) For a more particular account of this ftatue, now in the 
palace at Portici, I beg leave to refer you to a paper of mine read 
before the Royal Society on Feb. 24. laft. 
(3) Dio. L. xl. 
(4) Suet. Vefp. c. 7. 
(5) For authorities, fee Middleton’s Germana Antiq. Men, 
P- 15 . 2 * 
image. 
