Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/368

 3:-56 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. Part 1. 215. Arch of Titus at Rome. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in. here given (No. 214). It is one of the best preserved as well as most graceful of its class in Italy. The Arch of the Sergii at Pola in Istria seems also to have been erected for a like purpose. That of Hadrian at Athens, and another built by him at Antinoe in Egypt, were monuments merely commemorative of the benefits which he had con- ferred on those cities by the architectural works he had erected Avithin their walls. By far the most important application of these gateways, in Rome at least, was to commemorate a triumph Avhich may have passed along the road over which the arch was erected, and perhaps in some instances they may have been erected beforehand, for the triumphal procession to pass through, and of which they would re- main memorials. The Arch of Titus at Home is well known for the beauty of its de- tail, as well as from the extraordinary interest which it derives from having been erected to commemorate the con- quest of Jerusalem, and consequently repre- senting in its bassi-rilievi the spoils of the Temple. From the annexed elevation, drawn to the usual scale, it will be seen that the building is not large, and it is not so well pro- portioned as that at Beneventum, represented in the preceding woodcut, the attic being over- poweringly high. The absence of sculpture on each side of the arch is also a defect, for the real merit of these build- ings is their being used as frameworks for the exhibition of sculptural representations of the deeds they were erected to commemorate. In the later days of the Empire two side-arches were added for foot 2:)assengers, in addition to the carriage-way in the centre. Tliis added much to the splendor of the edifice, and gave a greater opportu- nity for sculptural decoration tlian the single arch afforded. The Arch of Septimius Severus, represented to the same scale in Yoodcut No. 216, is perliaps the best specimen of the class. That of Constantine is very similar and in most respects equal to this — a merit which it owes to most of its sculptures being borrowed from earlier monuments. More splendid than either of these is the arch at Orange. It is not known by whom it was erected, or even in M-hat age : it is, however, certainly very late in the Roman period, and shoAvs a strong tendency to treat the order as entirely subordinate, and to exalt the plain masses into that importance which characterizes the late transitional period. 216. Arch of Septimius Severus. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.