Temple of Ceres.-This temple, supposed to have been dedicated to Ceres, though smaller, and consequently less imposing than that of Neptune, exhibits a lighter and more elegant style of architecture. Its form is quadrilateral: its length, out and out, is a hundred and eight feet, and its breadth forty-eight. There are two fronts, each being adorned with six columns, which support a magnificent entablature and a pediment. Each side presents twelve columns, supporting a similar entablature; and every column is fluted, and rests, without base, on the third step of the platform on which the temple stands; the diameter of each column is four feet at the bottom, less at the top, and the height thirty feet. At the entrance is a vestibule, supported by six columns with plain round bases; and beyond are four steps leading to the cella, which is twenty-five feet wide, and encompassed on the four sides by a dwarf wall. The situation of the high-altar, and of those whereon victims were sacrificed and offerings made, is discoverable; these altars fronted the east. Remains of sarcophagi are likewise discoverable within the precincts of this temple, the outside of which is adorned with a Doric frieze and cornice; and all its columns, together with those of the basilic and the temple of Neptune, appear to have been stuccoed. The pavement of these buildings was mosaic.

The Theatre. This edifice is almost totally destroyed; but the fragments of griffens and fine basso-relievoes which have been found here evince that it was erected at a period when sculpture was rising fast to its zenith of perfection.

The Amphitheatre.-This edifice likewise is nearly destroyed: it appears to have been of an oval form, a hundred and seventy feet wide, by a hundred and twenty long. Ten rows of seats, and some of the caves for wild beasts, may still be traced. It stood precisely in the centre of the town.

The great antiquity of Pæstum, and the uncertainty as to what its remaining edifices originally were, and to whom they belonged, bring to our recollection a celebrated Italian sonnet, which may be thus imitated :—

BENEVENTO is a dukedom in the Neapolitan province Principato Oltra (eighty-six square miles, with twenty thousand inhabitants), which, including a city and eight villages, belongs to the papal see. In 1806, Napoleon made a present of it to his minister Talleyrand, who received thence the title of prince of Benevento. In 1815, it was restored to the pope. Cattle, grain, wine, oranges, and dead game, are exported. The public revenue amounts to six hundred dollars. In 1820, the inhabitants revolted. In the most remote times, the state of Benevento belonged to the country of the Samnites. The Lombards, in 571, made it a dukedom, which, long after the extinction of the Lombard kingdom, remained independent. At a later period, it fell into the hands of the Saracens and Normans. The city, however, was not conquered by the latter, because Henry III. had given it to the pope, Leo IX. The city is built on a hill between the rivers Sabato and Calore, has about fourteen thousand inhabitants, eight churches, and nineteen convents. Since 969, it has been the see of an archbishop. It has several manufactories.

Few cities in Italy deserve so much attention, on account of the antiquities which they contain, as Benevento. Almost every wall consists of fragments of altars, sep⚫ulchres, columns, and entablatures. Among other things, the well-preserved, magnificent triumphal arch of Trajan, built in 114, deserves particular mention. It is now called porta aurea (the golden gate), and is a gate of the city. It was erected in honor of Trajan, and is one of the most interesting remains of antiquity; but not

being in the ordinary route of travellers, it is comparatively little known. The columns are of the composite order, and are placed on a common pedestal, the base of which is in the Grecian style: the proportions of the various parts are considered remarkably fine. The architectural perfection of this monument of Roman triumph and power is not its sole claim to admiration, as the sculptures with which it is ornamented are equally appropriate and excellent. The space between the columns is transversely separated with much taste by a small frieze, and the compartments are filled with bas-reliefs. The inscription is placed on a projection of the parapet, and on each side are large figures in bas-relief, in the same style as those on the arch of Constantine. They represent different actions in the life of Trajan, and are not inferior, either in conception or execution, to those for which the arch at Rome in honor of the same emperor has been so deservedly celebrated. Trajan was made emperor at the close of the first century. He exhibited great military qualities, and was liberal and enlightened as a statesman. Bred in the camp, he was not versed in literature, but he was, nevertheless, anxious to cultivate the friendship of men of talent. He appointed Pliny to the government of Pontus and Bithynia, and a series of letters passed between him and the emperor which afford many proofs of Trajan's sound judgment and good understanding. Trajan subjugated the Dacians; and his wars with them and the Parthians, and other people in the East, form the chief military exploits of his reign. The site of the bridge which he erected across the Danube is no longer known, and modern art is only just attempting to effect a similar work. For a period of two hundred and fifty years after his death the senators were accustomed to greet the accession of a new emperor with the wish that he might be more fortunate than Augustus and better than Trajan.

Let us now retrace our steps, return to the north of Italy, and look at some of the cities in that region. And first of Bologna :

BOLOGNA is one of the oldest, largest, and richest cities of Italy, and has colonnades along the sides of the streets for foot-passengers. It is called la grassa (the fat); lies at the foot of the Apennines, between the rivers Reno and Savena, and contains 65,300 inhabitants, and 8,000 houses, with manufactories of cordage, soap, paper, artificial flowers, and arms. Bologna is the capital of the papal delegation of the same name, the secular concerns of which are administered by a cardinal legale, who resides here; while the archbishop directs in spiritual affairs. A gonfalonière, chosen every two months, with fifty senators and eight elders from the citizens, form a republican government, which has almost the whole management of the affairs of the city. The people of Bologna voluntarily submitted to the papal see in 1513, being tired of the party struggles among the nobles, by which the strength of the state was exhausted. Bologna has an ambassador in Rome, whose duty it is to maintain the limitations of the papal authority, according to the constitution, and who, after every new election of a pope, presents complaints of the encroachments of his predecessor. The city chooses, also, one of the judges composing the high court of appeals at Rome. Her armorial bearings are even now surrounded by the charmed word, libertas. The pope, by the constitution, can exact no other tax than the excise on wine. During three centuries, the papal government endeavored to introduce in the city the excise on corn, but could not succeed. The rich nobility of the papal states live in Bologna, and are on bad terms with the head of the church. The city is also the residence of the old Bolognese patrician families, who have given many popes to the church. The most liberal men in the papal dominions are to be found among the learned of this city. In 1816, the nobility, scholars, and citizens, founded a Socratic society for the promotion of social happiness, which was, however, suspected of carbonarism.

Bologna was long renowned for its university, founded according to tradition, by Theodosius the Younger, in 425, which, in the centuries of barbarism, spread the light of knowledge over all Europe. It once had ten thousand students, but the number at present is only three hundred. Here the celebrated Irnerius taught the civil law in the eleventh century; and men like Bulgerus, Martinus, Jacobus, and Hugo, attracted pupils from every quarter. The university formerly possessed so much influence, that even the coins of the city bore its motto, bononio docet. The law-school enjoyed the greatest fame. Its teachers had the reputation of inculcating principles favorable to despotism, and were consequently rewarded by the favor of the emperors and of the Italian sovereigns.

A citizen of Bologna, General-Count Fern. Marsigli, founded, in 1709, the Insti