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of the precfpts which (lioulJ fix our ideas on this fubjeft, 

 has .lepartcd from his own rules in the conftruftion of his 

 batihca, it will perhaps be impoflihle not to recognize, in the 

 edihce of Otncoli, an example of the aneicnt balilica. 



But we cannot quit this divifion of the fubjefl without 

 mentioning a monument, interelling at any rate from the 

 fingiilarity of its architeftuie, and flill more fo if it pre- 

 ferve to us the form of the Grecian bafilica. This edifice, 

 one of the antiquities of Pa;llum, is in lenj^fh the uouble of 

 its breadth ; it is formed by rau;jcs of Doric columns, to the 

 number of nine in each front and eighteen on each wing in- 

 cluding the angles. On a line with the central column of 

 each front a range of columns is continued through, dividing 

 the building into two parts ; at the foot of thefe columns 

 the pavement is elevated and adorned with mofaic. Thefe 

 interior columns fupported the roof, which was probably a 

 terrace. The uneven number of columns in the fronts, and 

 the narrownefs of their intercolumriations compared with 

 thofe of the wings, prove fufficiently that the principal en- 

 trances mud have been at the fides ; and this circumltance, 

 together with the abfence of any exterior wall to inclofe a 

 ceila, fhews that this edifice could not have been a temple. 

 But to the purpofes of a bafilica it feems very well adapted ; 

 open on every fide, it admitted an eafy accels, while the ele- 

 vation or bank in the middle, would afford a tribunal fuited 

 to the fimplicity of the age. 



The Ecchjiajlkal Bafilica. It is not probable that the 

 ancient bafilicas were ever converted into ChrilUan churches; 

 in that cafe, we Ihould ftill be in poffeflion of fome of thefe 

 monuments of antiquity. The moll aixient bafilicas of tlie 

 Chrillians, tliofe which date from the firft centuries of the 

 public cxercife of our rehgion, were built exprefsly for their 

 life ; and the details of their architcAure, announce but too 

 clearly the time of their conftruftion. But thefe new tem- 

 ples refemblcd fo much the antique bafilicas, that they re- 

 tained their name ; and indeed if we examine the buildings 

 of antiquity, we fliall find no other fo well calculated for 

 the purpofes of our religion. Thefe edifices, at once fim- 

 ple in plan and magnificent in decoration, were of a form 

 and difpofition the mod advantageous that can be imagined 

 for large halls, and their conltruftion combined folidity with 

 economy. Their folidity is proved by the duration ol four- 

 teen centuries of fome of thefe buildings ; and their economy 

 confifts in the lightnefs of the points of fupport, and in that 

 of the covering which was only of carpentry. In mod of 

 the bafilicas, the walls and the points of iiipport only occupy 

 one tenth of the total fpace ; which, in buildings vaulted 

 and fupported with arcades, like many modern churches, 

 take up at leait. twice that fuperficies, and require befides 

 materials and modes of conllruftion which quadruple the 

 ex pence. 



It is to Conftantine, that the firll Chriftian churches 

 known by the name of bafilicas are to be referred. This 

 prir.ce fignalized hii zeal by the ereftion of monuments 

 which announced the triumph of the rehgion which he had 

 embraced. He gave his own palace on the Ccehan mount 

 to conllruft on its fclte a ciiurch which is recognized for 

 the moll ancient Chriftian bafilica. A modern building has 

 fo much ma(kcd and disfigured the ancient, that only the 

 Ctuation and plan of this monument can be difcovercd. 



Soon after, he ereifted the bafilica of St. Peter of the Va- 

 tican. This magnificent edifice was conftrufted about the 

 year 324 upon the fcite of the circus of Nero and the tem- 

 ples of Apollo and Mars, which were deftroyed for that 

 purpofe. It was divided intenialiy into five aifles from call 

 to weft, which terminated at the end in another aifle from 

 ■orth to foath, in the centre of which was a large niche or 



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tribunal, giving the whole the form of a crofjj. The larg^lf 

 aifle was inclofcd by forty-eight columns of precious marble, 

 and the lateral aifles had hkewife forty-eight columns of 

 fmaller dimenfions ; two columns were placed in each wing 

 of the terminating aifle. The whole was covered with a 

 flat cieling, compofed of immenfe beams which were eafed 

 with gilt metal and Corinthian brafs taken from the temples 

 of PuMnu'us and Jupiter Capitolinus. A hundred fmaller 

 columns ornamented the fhrines and chapels. The wails 

 were covered with paintings of religious fubjefts, and the 

 tribunal was enriched with elaborate molaics. An incredible 

 number of lamps illuminated this ternple ; in tUe greater fo- 

 lemnities 2400 were reckoned, of which one enormous can- 

 delabrum contaiiit;d 1360. The tombs of pontiffs, kings, 

 cardinals, and princes, were reared againft the walls or infu- 

 latcd in the ample porticos. 



This fuperb temple was refpeifted by Alaric and Totila, 

 and remained uninjured in the various fortunes of P.onie 

 during the lapfe of twelve centuries ; but crumbling with 

 age, it was at lad pulled dowi>by Juhiis II. and upon its 

 fcite has arifen the famous bafilica, the pride of modern 

 Rome. 



The third great bafilica built by Conftantine, that of St. 

 Paul on the road to Odia, ftill exifts. The interior of this 

 building refembles precifely that of St. Peter which has jud 

 been delcribed. Of the forty columns inclofing the great 

 aifle, twenty-four are fuppofcd to have been taken from the 

 niaufoleum of Adrian ; they are Corinthian, about three 

 feet diameter, fluted their whole length, and cabled to one 

 third : the columns are of blue and white marble, and anti- 

 quity prefents nothing in this kind more precious for the 

 materials and the workmanfhip. But thefe beautiful remains 

 feera only to be placed there to the difgrace of the red of 

 the conftruiSion, which is of the age of Conftantine and 

 Thcodofius, and which mod drikingly exemplifies the rapid 

 decline of the arts. 



The churches we have hitherto defcribed bear a very com- 

 plete refemblance to the antique bafilica in plan and prop"r- 

 tion. The only remarkable difference is, that the fupcrior 

 galleries are fupprefled, in the place of which a wall is raifed 

 upon the columns of the great aifle, which is pierced with 

 windows, and fupports the roof. 



The church of St. Agnefe out of the walls, though not 

 one of the feven churches of Rome which retain the title, 

 is however a perfeil imitation cf the antique bafilica. This 

 refemblance is fo complete, that without the tcftimony of 

 writers who inform us that it was built by Condantine at the 

 reqncd of Conftaatia his filler or daughter, and without the 

 details of its architecture which forbid us to date it higher, 

 it might be taken rather for an ancient tribunal of juftice 

 than a modern church. It forms an oblong internally, 

 three fides of which are furrouiided with columns forming 

 the porticos ; the fourth fide oppofite the entrance is re- 

 ceffed in a fcmicircle ; this is the tribunal. The firil order 

 of columns carries a fecond, forming an upper, gallery, above 

 which-begins the ceiling of the edifice. The fiiortening of 

 the columns, recommended by Vitruvius, is obferved in the 

 upper order. 



We have hitherto obferved in the Chriftian bafihcas but 

 fmall variations from the antique conftruction : they were ftill 

 fimple quadrilateral halls divided into three or five aifles, the 

 numerous columns of which fupported the flat ceihng ; but 

 the crofs form, the emblem of Chridianity, which began to 

 be adopted in thefe buildings, operated the mod elTential 

 changes in their Ihrpe. The interfettion of the croffing 

 aifles produced a centre, which it was natural to enlarge and 

 make principal in the compofition ; and the invention of 



donie« 



