Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/488

 464 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, top, (for the building seems to have consisted of no L_ more than one story,) and they received their heat by the help of pipes that were conveyed along the walls. The range of principal apartments was protected to- wards the south-west, by a portico live hundred and seventeen feet long, which must have formed a very noble and delightful 'ivalk, when the beauties of paint- ing and sculpture were added to those of the prospect. Had this magnificent edifice remained in a solitary country, it would have been exposed to the ravages of time; but it might, perhaps, have escaped the rapa- cious industry of man. 'J'he village of Aspalathus*, and long afterwards the provincial town of Spalatro, have grown out of its ruins. The golden gate now opens into the market-place. St. John the baptist has usurped the honours of iEsculapius ; and the temple of Jupiter, under the protection of the Virgin, is con- verted into the cathedral church. For this account of Diocletian's palace, we are principally indebted to an ingenious artist of our own time and country, whom a very liberal curiosity carried into the heart of Dal- matian But there is room to suspect that the elegance of his designs and engraving has somewhat flattered the objects which it was their purpose to represent. Decline of We are informed by a more recent and very judicious traveller, that the awful ruins of Spalatro are not less expressive of the decline of the arts, than of the great- ness of the Roman empire in the time of Diocletian s. If such was indeed the state of architecture, we must naturally believe that painting and sculpture had ex- perienced a still more sensible decay. The practice of architecture is directed by a few general and even me- « D'Anville, Geographie Ancienne, torn. i. p. 162. f Messieurs Adam and Clerisseau, attended by two draughtsmen, visited Spalatro in the month of July, 1757. The magnificent work which their journey produced was published in London seven years afterwards. s I shall quote the words of the abate Fortis. " E' bastevolmente nota agli amatori dell' architettura, e dell' antichita, I'opera del signor Adam, che a donato molto a qlie' superbi vestigi coll' abituale eleganza del sue toccalapis e del bulino. In generale la rozzezza del scalpello, e'l cativo gusto del secolo vi gareggiano colla magnificenza del fabricato." See Viaggio in Dalmazia, p. 40.