
90 ARCHITECTURE. 
regions, as in Capua, Pozzuoli, Pola, Verona, Nismes. The baths were 
a species of building not seen before. Marcus Agrippa gave the example; 
then followed the splendid works of Nero, Titus, the Suranian of Trajan, 
and the Cleandrian under Commodus. Rome had public colonnades earlier, 
but they did not approach in beauty to those of Agrippa, Augustus, or Nero. 
In respect of palaces we can hardly mention the Palatine of Domitian 
with the golden house of Nero; and the villas of Tiberius at Capri, 
Domitian’s Albanum, Trajan’s villa, the Lorium of Antonine, appear 
insignificant in comparison with Hadrian’s sumptuous villa at Tivoli. 
We must add to these, the sepulchral monuments and memorial arches. 
Triumphal and memorial arches, even temples, are now more common in 
Rome and in the provinces, and are adorned upon all sides with the most 
costly bas-reliefs. Memorial columns rise on every hand, and surpass even 
the obelisks in height. Augustus and Caligula imported the last from 
Egypt, and even Constantine had one brought to Rome. Yet, near the 
columus of Trajan and of Marcus Aurelius, they lose all importance. If 
we now include the roads and bridges in and about Rome and the provinces, 
we shall have an idea of the grandeur of art during this period. 
There was abundance of the best material, and a great number of buildings, 
the style in most of which was masterly, yet less in the Doric and Jonic 
than in the splendid Corinthian capitals. There was, however, no lack of 
empirics who obtruded everywhere, and treated art arbitrarily. The rage 
for novelty was also dangerous to architecture, and names like Severus, 
Celer, and Apollodorus are of rare occurrence at any period. Among the 
emperors who fostered art, Hadrian deserves the first place ; and his reign, in 
the history of art, marks the era of the last efforts towards the sublime. 
14. Sepriius Severus. The disturbances consequent upon the assassina- 
tion of Commodus interrupted every architectural enterprise. Pertinax and 
his three successors were only apparitions upon the theatre of universal 
empire, until Septimius Severus at length assumed the government, and as a 
warrior and educated man, undertook many works of importance for the 
improvement of the city. He was also engaged in restorations. To his 
larger works belongs avery large temple of Bacchus and Hercules, of whose 
site, however, no trace remains. But there are two monuments in honor of 
this emperor and of his fortunate Oriental campaigns. The largest is a 
triumphal arch which the people and the senate dedicated to the em- 
peror and to his sons, 203 a.p. Pl. 17, jig. 20, shows the section of this 
work. It lies opposite the Capitoline hill, and was built of blocks of 
Pentelican marble without cement. It is entirely preserved, although 
it has often suffered from fire. The whole height is about 56 feet, the 
breadth 72 feet, and the depth about 22 feet. It has three openings, of 
which the middle is the largest, and on each side stand four fluted columns 
of the Composite order, disengaged, and with pilasters behind them. 
These columns are 2 feet, 10 inches in diameter, and rest upon pedestals 
which on three sides have bas-reliefs representing captive enemies. The 
entablature, which is supported by the columns, formerly bore statues 
in the same manner as the arch of Constantine (pl. 17, fig. 21). The 
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