And his feeling was destined to become yet more acute after his visits to the other basilicas, which could but reveal the truth to him.

First one found the Christian Church quietly, audaciously quartering itself in a pagan church, as, for instance, San Lorenzo in Miranda installed in the temple of Antoninus and Faustina, and retaining the latter's rare porticus in _cipollino_ marble and its handsome white marble entablature.

Then there was the Christian Church springing from the ruins of the destroyed pagan edifice, as, for example, San Clemente, beneath which centuries of contrary beliefs are stratified: a very ancient edifice of the time of the kings or the republic, then another of the days of the empire identified as a temple of Mithras, and next a basilica of the primitive faith.

Then, too, there was the Christian Church, typified by that of Saint Agnes-beyond-the-walls which had been built on exactly the same pattern as the Roman secular basilica--that Tribunal and Exchange which accompanied every Forum.

And, in particular, there was the Christian Church erected with material stolen from the demolished pagan temples.