628 Bijhop Bur 
the Height of the Convent of Aracell^ a Man hath a full 
View of all the Extent of Rome^ but literally it is now 
Beges uhi Roma fuit j for the Parts of the City that were 
moft inhabited anciently are thofe that are now laid out 
in great Gardens, or, as they call them, Vineyards, of 
which fome are half a Mile in Compafs. The Vaftnefs 
of the Roman Magnificence and Luxury is that which 
paflfeth Imagination : The prodigious Amphitheatre of 
^itus^ that could conveniently receive eighty five thou- 
fand Spedators : The great Extent of the Circus Max-- 
imus •, the Vaults where the Waters were referved that 
furnifhed Ritus^s Baths ; and above all, Rioclefian’^ 
Baths, though built when the Empire was in its Decay, 
are fo far beyond all modern Buildings, that there is 
not fo much as Room for a Cornparifon. The Extent 
of thofe Baths is above half a Mile in Compafs j the 
Vaftnefs of the Rooms in which the Bathers might 
fwim, of which the Carthufians Church, that yet remains 
entire, is one, and the many great Pillars, all of one 
Stone of Marble, beautifully jotted, are Things of 
which thefe latter Ages are not capable. The Beauty 
of their Temples, and of the Portico’s before them, is 
amazing, chiefly that of the Rotunda^ where the Fa- 
brick without looks as mean, being only brick, as the 
Architedure is bold ; for it rifeth up in a Vault, and 
yet at the Top there is an Open left of thirty Foot in 
Diameter ; which, as it is the only Window of the 
Church, fo it fills it with Light, and is the hardieft 
Piece of Architedure that ever was made. The Pillars 
of the Portico are alfo the nobleft in Rome ; they are 
the higheft and biggeft that one can fee any where, all 
of one Stone: And the Numbers of thofe ancient 
Pillars, with which not only many of the Churches 
are beautified, chiefly St. Mary Maggiore^ and St. John 
in the Lateran, but with which even private Houfes 
are adorned, and of the Fragments of which there are 
fuch Multitudes in all the Streets of Rome, gives a 
great Idea of the Profufenefs of the old Romans in their 
Buildings ; for the hewing and fetching a few of thofe 
Pillars muft have coft more than whole Palaces do 
now, fince moft of them were brought from Greece. 
Many of thefe Pillars are of Porphyry, others of Jaf- 
per, others of granated Marble, but the greateft Num- 
ber are. of white Marble. 
The two Columns, Rrajan^s and Antoninas, j the two 
Horfes that are in the Mount Camllo, and the other 
two Horfes in the Capitol, which have not indeed the 
Poftures and Motion of the other j the Brafs Horfe 
that, as is believed, carrieth Marcus Aurelius \ the Re- 
mains of Nero^s Colojfus ; the Temple of Bacchus near 
the Catacomb of Sc. Agnes, which is the moft entire 
and the leaft altered of all the ancient Temples. The 
great Temple of Peace, thofe of the Sun and Moon, 
that of Romulus and Rhemus (which I confidered as the 
ancienteft Fabrick that is now left ; for it is little and 
Ample, and ftandcth in fuch a Place, that, when Rome 
grew fo coftly, it could not have been left alone un- 
changed, if it had not been that it was reverenced for 
its Antiquity) the many other Porticos, the Arches of 
Severus, of Aitus and Conjlantine, in the laft of which 
one fees, that the Sculpture of his Age was much funk 
from what it had been, only in the Top there are fome 
Bafs-relieves, . that are clearly of a much ancienter time, 
and of a better Manner : And that which exceedeth all 
the reft, the many great Aqueduds that come from all 
Hands, and run over a vaft Diftance, are Things which 
a Man cannot fee too often, if he would form in himfelf 
a juft Idea of the Vaftnefs of that Republick, or rather 
Empire. 
There are many Statues and Pillars, and 
other Antiquities of great Value, dug up in all the 
Quarters of Rome, thefe laft hundred and fourfcore 
Years, fiace-Pope Leo X’s time ; who, as he was the 
greateft, Patron of Learning and Arts, that perhaps 
ever was, fo he was the moft generous Prince that ever 
reign’d : And it was he that firft let on Foot the enqui- 
ring into the Riches of old Rome, that lay, till his Time, 
for the moft part hid under Ground. And indeed, if 
he had been lefs fcandalous in his Impiety and Atheifm, 
of which neither he, nor his Court, were fo much as 
N E t’s Travels Book II. 
afhamecl, he had been one of the rrioft Celebrated 
Perfons of any Age. Soon after him. Pope Paul IIL 
gave the Ground of the Monte Palatino to his Family : 
But I was told, that this large Piece of Ground, in 
which one fhould look for the greateft Colledfion of 
Antiquities of the higheft Value, fince this is the Ruin 
of the Palace of the Roman Emperors, hath never 
yet been fearched into with any Exadlnefs. So that when 
a curious Prince comes, that is willing to employ many 
Hands in Digging up and down this Hill, we may 
expeft new Scenes of Roman Antiquities. But all this 
Matter would require Volumes, and therefore I have 
only mentioned thefe Things, becaufe I can add no- 
thing to thofe copious Defcriptions that have been fo oft 
made of them. Nor will I fay any Thing of modern 
Palaces, or the Ornaments of them, either in Pidures 
or Satues, which are Things that carry one fo far, 
that it is not eafy to fet Bounds to the Defcriptions in- 
to which one finds himfelf carried, when he once en- 
ters upon fo fruitful a Subjedl. The Number of the 
Palaces is great, and every one of them hath enough 
to fix the Attention of a Traveller, till a new one 
drives the former out of his Thoughts. It is true, the 
Palejlrina, the Borghefe, and the harnefe, have fome- 
what in them that leaves an Impreflion, which no new 
Objefls can wear out % and as the laft hath a noble 
Square before it, with two great Fountains in it, fo the 
Statue of Hercules and the Bull, that are below,- and 
the Gallery above Stfirs, are invaluable. The Roof of 
the Gallery is one of the beft Pieces of Painting that 
is extant, being all of Carracchioh Hand ; and there 
are in that Gallery the greateft Number of Heads of 
the Greek Philofophers and Poets that I ever faw too-e- 
ther. That of Homer, and that of Socrates, were two 
that ftruck me moft ; chiefly the latter : Which, as it 
is, without Difpute, a true antique, fo it carries in it all 
the Charatfters that Plato and Xenophon give us of So-- 
crates : The flat Nofe, the broad Face, the Simplicity 
of Look, and the mean Appearance which that great 
Philofopher made, fo that I could not return oft enough 
to look upon it, and was delighted' with this more than, 
with all the Wonders of the Bull, which is indeed a 
Rock of Marble cut out into a whole Scene of Statues ; 
but as the Hiftory of it is not well known, fo there 
are *fuch Faults in the Sculpture, that though it is all 
extream fine, yet one fees it hath not the Exadtnefs of 
the beft Times. 
As for the Churches and Convents of Rome, as the 
Number, the Vaftnefs, the riches of Fabrick, Furni- 
ture, Painting, and other Ornaments, amaze one 5 
fo here again a Stranger is loft, and the Convent, that 
is laft feen is always the moft admired. I coiifefs the 
Minerva, which is the Dominicans, where the Inquifiti- 
on fits, is that which makes the moft fenfible Impref-- 
fion upon one that paffeth at Rome for an Heretick ; 
though except one commits great Follies, he is in no 
Danger there ; and the Poverty, that reigns in that City, 
makes them find their Interett fo much in ufing Stran- 
gers well, whatever their Religion may be, that no 
Man needs be afraid there : And I have more than 
ordinary Reafon to acknowledge this, who having 
ventured to go thither, after all the Liberty that I had. 
taken in Writing my Thoughts freely, of the Church 
and See of Rome, and was known by all with whom 
I converfed there ; yet met with the higheft Civilities 
polTible among all Sorts of People, and in particular 
among the Englijh and Scottijh Jefuits, though they 
knew well enough that I was no Friend to their Order. 
In the Gallery of the Englijh Jefuits, among the 
Piftures of their Martyrs, I did not meet' with Gar- 
net', for perhaps that Name is fo well known, that 
they would not expofe a Picture with fuch a Name to 
all Strangers ; yet Oldcorn, being a Name lefs known, 
is hung there among their Martyrs, though he was as 
clearly convifted of the Gunpowder-treafon as the other : 
And it feemed a little ftrange to me, that at a Time, 
in which, for other Reafons, the Writers of that Com- 
munion have not thought fit to deny the Truth of that 
Confpiracy, a Jefuit, convidled of the blackeft Crime ' 
that ever was projeded, Ihould be reckoned among 
their 
