Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/762

 742 EOJIA. 21); and the reign of Claudius was distinguished by the completion of two aqueducts and the construc- tion of several beautiful fountains (Id. Claud. 20). The factious struggles between Otho and Vitellius were marked by the ominous burning of the Capitol. At length the happier era of the public-spirited Vespasian was distinguished alike by his regard for the civil liberties of the Romans, and for their material comforts, by the attention which he paid to the improvement of the city, and by his restoring to the public use and enjoyment the vast space ap- propriated by Nero for his own selfish gratification. The bounds of the imperial palace were again re- stricted to the limits of the Talatine, and on the site of Nero's lake rose a vast amphitheatre destined for the amusement of so many thousands of the Roman people, whose ruins we still gaze at with wonder and admiration. Vespasian was likewise the founder of tiie temple of Peace, near the Forum, and of a temple to Claudius on theCaelian hill. Titus pursued the pjpular designs of his father, and devoted a large portion of the former imperial gardens on the Esquiline to the foundation of public baths. (Suet. Tit. 7; Mart. iii. 20. 15.) Under this emperor another destructive fire raged for three days and niglits at Rome, and again laid a great part of the city in ashes. (Suet. Tit. 8.) The chief works of Domitian were the rebuilding of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which had again been burnt, on the mere external gilding of which he is said to have expended 12,000 talents, or nearly three millions sterling; and the foundation of a new forum, which, however, was not finished till the time of Nerva, whose name il bore. (JiA.Dom. 5.) Trajan constructed the last of the imperial fora, with which was con- nected the Basilica Ulpia. (Dion Cass. Ixix. 4.) Rome probably attained its highest pitch of archi- tectural splendour under the reign of his successor Hadrian. That emperor had a passion for building, and frequently furnished his own designs, which, however, were not always in the best taste. His most remarkable works were the Blausoleum on the right bank of the Tiber, now the Castello di S. An- gela, the Temple of Venus and Rome near the Colosseum, and the enormous villa whose ruins may still be seen at the foot of the ascent which leads to Tivoli. (Spart. Uad?-. 19; Procop. B. G. i. 22.) It would be tedious and unprofitable to recount the works of succeeding emperors down to the time of Aurelian; and it may suffice to mention that those who most contributed to renovate or adorn the city were Septimius Severus, Caracalla, and Alexander Severus. During this period Rome betrayed unequi- vocal symptoms of her approaching decline and fall. Large bodies of the barbarians had already penetrated into Italy, and, in the reign of the accomplished but feeble Gallienus, a horde of the Alemanni had me- naced and insulted Rome itself. After a lapse of eight centuries its citizens again trembled for the safety of their families and homes ; and the active and enterprising Aurehan, whilst waging successful wars in Egypt and the East, found himself com- pelled to secure his capital by fortifying it with a wall. This great undertaking, commenced A. d. 271, was completed in the reign of Probus, the successor of Aurelian. (Vopisc.x4?<r. 2 1, 39 ; Aur. Vict. Caes. 35 ; Eutrop. ix. 15; Zosim. i. 49). The accounts of the circumference of this wall are discrepant and impro- bable. Vopiscus (Aw-el. c. 39) mentions the absurd and extravagant measure of nearly 50 miles; which, ROMA. however, has been adopted by Lipsius and Isaac Vossius, as well as by Nibby {AJvra, <fc. p. 120, seq.). The walls of Aurelian were repaired by Ho- norius, and with the exception of that part beyond the Tiber, and some modern additions by the Popes, are substantially the same as those which now exist, as appears from the inscriptions on the gates. Without the additions referred to, their circumference would be between 11 and 12 miles, thus reducing the city to about the same dimensions as those given by Pliny in the time of Vespasian; nor is there any reason to believe that, in the sinking state of the Em- pire, the city would have received any increase of inhabitants. Another measurement by Amnion, the geometrician, just before the siege of the city by Alaric, gave a circumference of 21 miles (Phot. Bibl. 80, p. 63, ed. Bekk.) ; but this number, though adopted by Gibbon, and nearer to the truth, cannot be accepted any more than that of Vopiscus. (Gibbon, Decl. and Fall, vol. ii. p. 17, ed. Smith, and notes.) Piale suggested that Vopiscus meant pedes instead of passiis. and other emendations of both the passages have been proposed ; but without discussing the merit of these, it is sufficient to know that the texts are undoubtedly either corrupt or erroneous. This may be briefly but decisively shown from the following considerations, which will, for the most part, apply to both the statements : — 1st, the incredible extent of the work; 2nd, the absence of any traces of such walls; 3rd, or of any buildings within their supposed limits, such as would naturally belong to a city; 4th, the fact that the extant inscriptions ascribe to Honorius the re- storation of an old line of walls and towers, not the construction of a new one. (Bunbury, in Class. Mm. iii. p. 368.) VI. Decline and Fall of the City. The history of the city from the time of Aurelian presents little more than a prospect of its rapid decline. The walls of that emperor were ominous of its sinking fortunes; but the reign of Diocletian forms the first marked aera of its ilecay. The triumph of that emperor and of his colleague Maximian, a. d. 303, was the last ever celebrated at Rome, but was distinguished by the trophies of an important Persian victory. (Eutrop. ix. 27.) The Roman emperors had long ceased to be of Roman extraction ; Dio- cletian, the descendant of slaves, was born in Dal- matia ; Jlaximian, the son of a peasant, was his fellow countryman ; and thus neither was wedded by any ties of birth or patriotism to the ancient glories of the eternal city. These were the first emperors who deserted the capital to fix their resi- dence in the provinces. Maximian established his court at Milan, whilst Diocletian resided at Nico- media, on the embellishment of which he lavished all the treasures of the East, in endeavouring to render it a rival worthy of Rome. His only visit to the ancient capital seems to have been on the occa- sion of his triumph ; it Was not prolonged beyond two months, and was closed with unexpected pre- cipitation and abruptness. (Lact. Mort. Pers. c. 17.) Yet his reign is distinguished as having conferred upon the city one of the latest, but most magnificent of its monuments, — the baths on the Quirinal which bear his name, by far the largest at Rome, whose enormous ruins may still be traced, and afford room enough for various churches, con- vents, and gardens. (Vopisc. Proh. 2 ; Oreil. Inscr. 1056.) Subsequently, indeed, ilajtentius,