II. ftanding the repairs beftowed on that ancient CHAP. edifice by a King of Cappadocia, it was again fallen to decay. Herod reftored its ancient beauty and magnificence. Nor was the liberality of that illuftrious citizen confined to the walls of Athens. The moft fplendid ornaments bestowed on the temple of Neptune in the Ifthmus, a theatre at Corinth, a ftadium at Delphi, a bath at Thermopylæ, and an aqueduct at Canufium in Italy, were infufficient to exhaust his treasures. The people of Epirus, Theffaly, Euboea, Boeotia, and Peloponnefus, experienced his favours; and many infcriptions of the cities of Greece and Afia gratefully ftyle Herodes Atticus their patron and benefactor "0. 70 the Ro man monu &c. In the commonwealths of Athens and Rome, Moft of the modeft fimplicity of private houses announced the equal condition of freedom: whilft ments for the fovereignty of the people was reprefented public ufe; temples; in the majestic edifices defigned to the public theatres; ufe"; nor was this republican fpirit totally ex- aqueducts, tinguished by the introduction of wealth and monarchy. It was in works of national honour and benefit, that the most virtuous of the emperors affected to display their magnificence. The golden palace of Nero excited a juft indignation, but the vast extent of ground which had been ufurped by his felfifh luxury, was more nobly filled under the fucceeding reigns 7° See Philoftrat. 1. ii. p. 548. 560. Paufanias, 1. i. and vii. 10. The life of Herodes, in the xxxth volume of the Memoirs of the Academy of Inscriptions. "It is particularly remarked of Athens by Dicæarchus, de Statu Græciæ, p.8. inter Geographos Minores, edit. Hudson. by CHAP. by the Coliseum, the baths of Titus, the Clau II. dian portico, and the temples dedicated to the goddess of Peace, and to the genius of Rome". These monuments of architecture, the property of the Roman people, were adorned with the most beautiful productions of Grecian painting and sculpture; and in the temple of Peace, a very curious library was open to the curiofity of the learned. At a fmall diftance from thence was fituated the Forum of Trajan. It was furrounded with a lofty portico, in the form of a quadrangle, into which four triumphal arches opened a noble and spacious entrance: in the centre arofe a column of marble, whofe height, of one hundred and ten feet, denoted the elevation of the hill that had been cut away. This column, which ftill fubfifts in its ancient beauty, exhibited an exact reprefentation of the Dacian-victories of its founder. The veteran foldier contemplated the ftory of his own campaigns, and by an eafy illufion of national vanity, the peaceful citizen affociated himself to the honours of the triumph. All the other quarters of the capital, and all the provinces of the empire, were embellished by the fame liberal fpirit of public magnificence, and were filled with amphitheatres, theatres, temples, porticos, tri Nardini Roma 72 Donatus de Roma Vetere, 1. iii. c. 4, 5, 6. Antica, 1. iii. 11, 12, 13. and a MS. description of ancient Rome, by Bernardus Oricellarius, or Rucellai, of which I obtained a copy from the library of the Canon Ricardi at Florence. Two celebrated pictures of Timanthes and of Protogenes are mentioned by Pliny, as in the Temple of Peace; and the Laocoon was found in the baths of Titus. umphal II. umphal arches, baths, and aqueducts, all variously c HA P. conducive to the health, the devotion, and the pleasures of the meaneft citizen. The laft mentioned of thofe edifices deferve our peculiar attention. The boldness of the enterprise, the folidity of the execution, and the uses to which they were fubfervient, rank the aqueducts among the nobleft monuments of Roman genius and power. The aqueducts of the capital claim a juft pre-eminence; but the curious traveller, who, without the light of history, fhould examine thofe of Spoleto, of Metz, or of Segovia, would very naturally conclude, that those provincial towns had formerly been the refidence of fome. potent monarch. The folitudes of Afia and Africa were once covered with flourishing cities, whofe populoufnefs, and even whofe existence, was derived from fuch artificial supplies of a perennial ftream of fresh water "3. and greatnefs of the the em pire. We have computed the inhabitants, and con- Number templated the public works, of the Roman empire. The obfervation of the number and great- cities of nefs of its cities will ferve to confirm the former, and to multiply the latter. It may not be unpleafing to collect a few fcattered inftances relative to that fubject, without forgetting, however, that from the vanity of nations and the poverty of language, the vague appellation of city has been indifferently bestowed on Rome and upon Laurentum. I. Ancient Italy is faid to have con- In Italy. 73 Montfaucon l'Antiquité Expliquée, tom. iv. p. 2. l. i. c. 9. Fabretti has composed a very learned treatise on the aqueducts of Rome. tained II. CHA P. tained eleven hundred and ninety-feven cities; and for whatsoever æra of antiquity the expreffion might be intended 4, there is not any reafon to believe the country lefs populous in the age of the Antonines, than in that of Romulus. The petty ftates of Latium were contained within the metropolis of the empire, by whose superior influence they had been attracted. Thofe parts of Italy which have fo long languished under the lazy tyranny of priests and viceroys, had been afflicted only by the more tolerable calamities of war; and the first symptoms of decay, which they experienced, were amply compenfated by the rapid improvements of the Cifalpine Gaul. The fplendor of Verona may be traced in its remains : yet Verona was lefs celebrated than Aquileia or Padua, Milan or Ravenna. II. The fpirit of improvement had paffed the Alps, and been felt even in the woods of Britain, which were gradually cleared away to open a free space for convenient and elegant habitations. York was the feat of government; London was already enriched by commerce; and Bath was celebrated for the falutary effects of its medicinal waters. Gaul could boast of her twelve hundred cities "5; and though, in the northern parts, many of them, without excepting Paris itself, were little more than the rude and imperfect townships of a rifing people; the fouthern provinces imitated the Gaul and Spain. 74 Ælian. Hift. Var. l. ix. c. 16. He lived in the time of Alexander Severus. See Fabricius, Biblioth. Græca, l. iv. c. 21. 75 Jofeph. de Bell. Jud. ii. 16. The number, however, is mentioned, and should be received with a degree of latitude. 15 wealth 77 II. wealth and elegance of Italy". Many were the CHA P. cities of Gaul, Marfeilles, Arles, Nifmes, Narbonne, Thouloufe, Bourdeaux, Autun, Vienna, Lyons, Langres, and Treves, whofe ancient condition might fuftain an equal, and perhaps advantageous comparison with their present state. With regard to Spain, that country flourished as a province, and has declined as a kingdom. Exhausted by the abufe of her ftrength, by America, and by fuperftition, her pride might poffibly be confounded, if we required fuch a lift of three hundred and fixty cities, as Pliny has exhibited under the reign of Vespasian III. Three hundred African cities had once Africa. acknowledged the authority of Carthage", nor is it likely that their numbers diminished under the administration of the emperors: Carthage itself rofe with new fplendor from its afhes; and that capital, as well as Capua and Corinth, foon recovered all the advantages which can be feparated from independent fovereignty. IV. The provinces of the east Afia. prefent the contrast of Roman magnificence with Turkish barbarism. The ruins of antiquity fcattered over uncultivated fields, and afcribed, by ignorance, to the power of magic, fcarcely afford a fhelter to the oppreffed peafant or wandering Arab. Under the reign of 76 Plin. Hift. Natur. iii. 5. 77 Plin. Hift. Natur. iii. 3, 4. iv. 35. accurate: the divifion of the provinces, the cities, are minutely diftinguished. 7* Strabon. Geograph. 1. xvii. p. 1189. The lift feems authentic and and the different condition of the |