Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/350

 318 TIOMAN ARCHITECTURE. Part I. was thus probably about 120 ft., or liigher tlian any English cathedral, though not so high as some German and French cliurches. At one end was a great semicircular apse, the back part of which was raised, being approached by a semicircular range of steps. In the centre of this platform was the raised seat of the quaestor or other magistrate who presided. On each side, upon the steps, were places for the assessors or others engaged in the business being transacted. In front of the apse was placed an altar, where sacrifice was performed before commencing any important public business.^ Externally this basilica could not have been of much magnificence. It was entered on the side of the Forum (on the left hand of the plan and section) by one triple doorway in the centre and two single ones on either side, covered by shallow porticoes of columns of the same height as those used internally. These suppoited statues, or rather, to judge from the coins representing the building, rilievos, which may have set off, but could hardly have given much dignity to, a building designed as this was. At the end opposite the apse a similar ai-rangement seems to have prevailed. This mode of using columns only half the height of the edifice must have been very destructive of their effect and of the general grandeur of the structure, but it became about this time rathei- the rule than the exception, and was afterwards adopted for temples and every other class of buildings, so that it was decidedly an improve- ment Avhen the arch took the place of the horizontal architrave and cornice; the latter always suggested a roof, and became singularly incongruous when applied as a mere ornamental adjunct at half the height of the fa9ade. The interior of the basilica was, however, the important element to which the exterior was entirely sacrificed, a transition in architectural design which we have before alluded to, taking place much faster in basilicas, which were an entirely new form of building, than in temples, whose conformation had become sacred from the traditions of past ages. The basilica of Maxentius, which was probably not entirely finished till the reign of Constantine, was rather broader than that of Trajan, being 195 ft. between the walls, but it was 100 ft. less in length. The central aisle was very nearly of the same width, being 83 ft. between the columns, and 120 ft. in height. There was, however, a vast dif- ference in the construction of the two; so much so, that we are startled to see how rapid the progress had been during the interval, of less than two centuries, that had elapsed between the construction of the two basilicas. In this building no ])illars were used with the exception of eight ' This basilica is generally repre- i this, and general analogy would lead us sented as having an apse at either end; rather to infer that it was not the case, but there is no authority whatever for I