VENUS ERUCINA, AEDES
a temple on the Capitoline, probably within the area Capitolina, which, together with the temple of MENS (q.v.), was vowed by the dictator Q. Fabius Maximus, in accordance with the instructions of the Sibylline books, after the defeat at Lake Trasumenus in 217 B.C. (Liv. xxii. 9. 10, 10. 10), and dedicated by Fabius as duovir in 215 (Liv. xxiii. 30. 13, 31. 9). The temples of Venus and Mens were separated by a sewer (Liv. xxiii. 31. 9; cf. Varro ap. Philogyr. ad Georg. iv. 265). It is altogether probable that this is the temple known during the empire as aedes Capitolina Veneris, in which Livia dedicated a statue of an infant son of Germanicus (Suet. Cal. 7), and Galba a necklace of precious stones (Suet. Galba 18; Jord. i. 2. 42; Gilb. 111. 101; cf. however, Mommsen, CIL i². p. 331 ; Becker, Top. 404).