278 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IT. 



Now, the Houfe of iEneas, that is, the Line of the Caefars, ended 

 in Nero *, that is, in the third generation after Virgil wrote j 

 the city of Rome was feveral times taken and facked by Goths 

 an4 Vandals ; and Totila, one of the Gothic Kings, formed the 

 defi^^n of deftroying it altogether, and of making a pafture-field 

 of the ground where it flood, and had advanced fo far in the 

 defign, as to have demoliihed fome part of the walls f. It is now 

 but the poor remains of what it was, and may be faid to be buried 

 in its own ruins ; fo that Rome is hardly to be found in Rome {. 



If, 



• Progenies Caefarum in Nerone defeclt. Siieton, 



f Procopius, GothicaHiftoria, Lib. iii. 



± The ftreets of Rome are at prefent raifed eight or nine feet above the antient 

 pavement, which, to that depth, is covered with ruins of buildings, pillars, ftatues, 

 and other works of art, the fineft, I believe, that ever exifted, being collected from 

 all parts of the world where art was to be found. — Even the Capitol itfelf, that itri' 

 moveable feat, as it was thought, of the Roman empire, has in fome fort difappear- 

 ed ; for the valleys and hollows about it are fo filled up with rubbifh, that it is no 

 longer the lofty citadel it was. 



The epigrammatic turn, fo unufual in my flile, given to the defcription of mo- 

 dern Rome in the text, is taken from an epigram of Janus Vitalis, an Italian poet, 

 which, I think, is excellent of the kind, and which, I believe, the reader will not 

 be difpleafed to read here. 



Quid Rcmam in media quaeris novus advena Roina, 



Et Romae in Roma nil reperis media .? 

 Afpice murorum moles, praeruptaque faxa, 



Obrutuque horrenti vafta theatra fitu : 

 Haec funt Roma : Viden' velut ipfa cadavera tantae 



XJrbis adhuc fpirent imperiofa minas ? 

 Vicit ut haec mundum, nifa eft fe vincere j vicit, 



A fe non vi6lum ne quid in orbe foret- 

 Hlnc vi^la in Roma viSlrix Roma ilia fepult' eft, 



Atque eadem viclrix vidlaque Rorna fuir. 

 Mbula Romani reftat nunc nominis index, 



Qui quoque nunc rapidis fertur in aequor aquis. 

 Difce hinc quid poffit fortuna ; immota labafcunt, 



Et quae perpetuo funt agitata manent. 



