Se ME OT 
7 
the Senate and the people, and is the only monument among the buildings of 
Rome attributable with certainty to the time of Constantine. But in faet 
no monument is so well adapted as this to show the melancholy state into 
which architecture and the plastic arts had then fallen. PJ. 18, jig. 13, 
gives the elevation; jig. 14, the ground plan, and pl. 17, jig. 21, the 
section of this arch. The monuments of earlier emperors, with their orna- 
ments, furnished the material. The main proportions of the structure, 
which on the whole are yet very beautiful, were apparently taken from 
another triumphal arch, as well as most of the bas-reliefs, and the statues 
placed over the columns. The great bulk of the work is of marble. The 
work of the columns indicates the time of Hadrian, the statues and bas- 
reliefs are of the time of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antonine; only the strips 
under the round bas-reliefs bear sculptures which have reference to 
Constantine and the conquest of Rome. Besides these, the Victories in the 
archivolts and on the pedestals of the columns belong to that time. 
All these sculptures, however, at once impress the spectator with the decline 
of art; and the incorrect proportions and clumsy execution of the cornices 
have the same effect. At the same time, Constantine dedicated the basilica 
named after him, which his predecessor Maxentius had begun to build; and 
he likewise adorned the circus and built the baths which bear his name. 
To this time also belongs, to judge from the architecture, the monument 
existing in Treves called the Porta Nigra, which probably belonged to the 
fortifications, and was perhaps the residence of the commander of the fortress. 
The monument of the Secundians near Igel, not far from Treves and the 
Rhine Bridge of Cologne, of which the remains are visible at low tide be- 
tween Cologne and Deutz, as well as the bridge over the Danube (probably 
its remains are near the Iron Gate, see page 84), were all buildings by 
Constantine. His great undertaking, however, was the foundation of anew 
residential city, whose progress he fostered so cordially, that the new Rome 
(which name it long bore in common with the name Constantinopolis) 
was ready for dedication in the 25th year of his reign, 330 A. D. 
Constantine comprehended the tendencies of his age, and the dangers that 
had long threatened the kingdom were not concealed from him. Only some 
great reform could avail against them, and the emperor was obliged to 
oppose a new city to the overgrown metropolis, and thus as it were reduce 
the queen of cities to the rank of other cities. A new form of government 
was connected with this change, and Constantine introduced it by separating 
the municipal power which the general had hitherto exercised in the pro- 
vinces from the military, appointing special officials for every part of the 
civil administration, and confining the generals to the army. In the same 
way the emperor struck at the power of the Roman senate, taking with 
him into the new residence many of the most distinguished families, and 
giving them positions there, forming a court, offices, and titles, and so creating 
an. aristocracy dependent upon himself alone. Finally, the emperor, induced 
by the great number of converts to the Christian religion, in order to obtain 
a new support, put himself at the head of the movement, and by his 
countenance controlled the councils of the church. 
95 
96 ARCHITECTURE. 
