662 



ITALY. 



tiful of all, is the Pantheon of Agrippa. It is a circular edifice, with a dome and colonnade. 

 The light is admitted from above only through a circular aperture in the top. The gilding, the 

 bronze, and the statues are all removed. The Pantheon was anciently ascended by 7 steps, 

 but it is now on a level with the earth. The architecture of the portico is perfect ; every 

 moulding is a model of art, and is whitened wiili the plaster of casts. Over the portico is the 

 original inscription of Agrippa, and there is but one other inscription on a temple in Rome. 

 The names of many temples are doubtful, though antiquaries decide with promptness, for in 

 Rome they are as credulous as the devotees. On each side of the portico are two hideous 

 belfreys, erected by the authorities of the Church. The temple of Antoninus and Faustina 

 has also an inscription. It has a fine portico, and a part of the inner wall of the ancient edi- 

 fice. It has been repaired and used as a church. The temple of Vesta has around it a cir- 

 cular colonnade of 20 fluted Corinthian columns. About the Roman Forum are the less per- 

 fect remains of other temples, as the Temple of Peace, of Jupiter Stator, .Jupiter Tonans, 

 Concord, Janus, &c. The ruins of temples are found in all Italy, but perhaps the most im- 

 pressive are those of Ptestum. They are little more than 50 miles from Naples, discoverable 

 by a telescope from Salerno ; a distant view is had from the high road of Calabria, yet they 

 remained undiscovered until the last century. They are not vast in extent, yet the proportions 

 are such, that they have an air of grandeur and majesty. In simjilicily and grandeirr, they are 

 some of the most impressive monuments on eartli. The pillars and entablatures remain; the 

 inner walls have fallen. 



Of the amphitheatres, the most magnificent is the Coliseum, built by Vespasian and Titus. 

 The area is about an acre. The circumference is 1,612 feet. Here were combats of wild 

 beasts with each other or with men, the gladiatorial combats, and here the early Christians 

 were cast into the arena to be devoured by beasts. The form is an ellipse ; there are 3 rows 

 of columns above each other, each of a different order. Tlie entrances were so numerous, 

 that each spectator went at once to his seat, and the immense multitude were quickly and safely 

 discharged. It was no ruin in the 13th century, but it was afterwards pillaged for building ma- 

 terials, and would not be safe perhaps even now but for a sagacious rite, that consecrated it as 

 a church. There is an altar and a hermit in the Coliseum. The rents in the walls give support 

 to numerous plants, and there are little less than 300 different kinds. At Verona is another 

 vast and splendid amphitheatre, in far better preservation, and at Pompeii is one more perfect 

 still. At Capua, Puzzuoli, and elsewhere, are the indistinct ruins of others. The only 

 theatre at Rome is that of Marcellus, of which part of the three lower arcades remain ; so 

 perfect in style, that they have often been used as models. The theatres of Pompeii and 

 Herculaneum are in perfect preservation. They are of a semicircular form, and have not 

 deep stages. Only one circus remains, the walls of which, though shattered, indicate the 

 form. 



The chief triumphal arches are those of Titus, Constantine, and Septimus Severus. The 

 arch of Constantine is the most imposing, from its better preservation ; but that of Titus, 

 erected to commemorate the conquest of .Jerusalem, is of better architecture and sculpture. 

 On it are represented the spoils of the temple, as the tables of the law, and the seven golden 

 candlesticks. The column of Trajan is one of the most perfect remains of antiquity. It is 

 a circular pillar, rising to a great height, and encrusted even to the top, with a spiral succes- 

 sion of bas reliefs. The subjects are the emperor's actions ; and he appears at a hundred 

 diffei'ent points as em]ieror, general, or priest. Ancient costume and tactics may be studied 

 in these sculptures. It formed but one edifice, in the Forum of Trnjan, the most splendid In 

 Rome. The rest are prostrated and buried, except a colonnade of broken granite pillars, 

 excavated by the French and set upon their bases. The Column of INIarcus Aurelius, called 

 also that of Antonine, is imposing but of inferior sculpture. It stands on the Corso. 



The Romans were more attached to cleanliness than their successors are. There were in 

 ancient Rome 754 private baths besides those public ones, whose ruins are so impressive. 

 The city has now but a single bath which is attached to a hotel ; yet Rome, though in an 

 arid situation, is better supplied with water by aqueducts than any other city. 



After the Coliseum the greatest ruin in Rome is that of Caracalla's Baths ; they are of pro- 

 digious extent, and one hall is 188 feet by 134. The baths of Diocletian were also vast, and 

 something of them remains. The baths of Titus were worthy of Roman magnificence. Some 

 of the roofs of the vaults are painted In arabesques, which were fiivorlte studies of Raphael. 

 His own arabesques in the Vatican have suffered more in 300 years than these in 1,700 



