FELICITAS, AEDES
a temple erected by L. Licinius Lucullus from booty
taken during his campaign in Spain in 150-151 B.C., and dedicated by
him after 146 (
Strabo viii. 6. 23, p. 381 (epOv ); Cass. Dio, frg. 76. 2
(
Τυχαῖον; cf. 1. 10. 2)). For the embellishment of this temple L. Mummius
presented Lucullus with works of art that he had brought from Greece,
and certain statues of the Muses by Praxiteles from Thespiae which stood
in front of the temple (Cic.
Verr. iv. 4, 126; Plin.
NH xxxiv. 69;
xxxvi.
39). It was in front of this temple that Caesar broke the axle of his
chariot when celebrating his triumph in 46 B.C. (Cass.
Dio xliii. 21), and
it therefore lay on the line of the triumphal procession. In describing
this accident Suetonius (Caes. 37) says, '
Velabrum praetervehens,' but
we know no other details as to its site (
Jord. i. 2. 486; DAP 2. vi. 262;
Gilb. iii. 106, 107;
RE vi. 2163;
Rosch. i. 1473). It was burned early
in the reign of Claudius and apparently not rebuilt. Pais (Fasti
Triumph.
ii. 481) wrongly maintains that it stood close to the first-mentioned
temple (see
VELABRUM for the misinterpretation on which this theory
rests).