Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/395

 Bk. IV. Ch. V. DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. . 363 /' /, Domestic Architecture. We know, not only from the descriptions and incidental notices that have come down to us, but also from the remains found at Pompeii and elsewhere, that the private dwellings of the Romans were characterized by that magnificence and splendor which we find in all their works, accompanied, probably, with more than the usual amount of bad taste. In Rome itself no ancient house — indeed no trace of a domestic edifice — exists except the Palace of the Cjesars on the Palatine Mount; and this even is now merely a congeries of shapeless ruins, so com- pletely destroyed as to have defied even the most imaginative of restorers to make much of it except a vehicle for the display of his own ingenuity. The extent of these ruins, coupled with the descriptions that have been preserved, suffice to convince us that, of all the palaces ever built, either in the East or the West, this was probably the most magnificent and the most gorgeously adorned. Never in the world's history docs it appear that so much wealtli and power were at the command of one man as was the case with the Cfesars ; and never could tiie world's wealth have fallen into the hands of men more inclined to lavish it for their own personal gratification than these emperors were. They could, moreover, ransack the whole world for plunder to adorn their buildings, and could command the best artists of Greece, and of all the subject kingdoms, to assist in rendering their golden palaces the most gor- geous that the world had then seen, or is likely soon to see again. The whole area of the palace may roughly be described as a square platform measuring 1500 ft. east and west, with a mean breadth of 1300 ft. in the opposite direction. Owing, however, to its deeply indented and irregular outline, it hardly covers more ground than the Baths of Caracalla. Recent excavations have laid bare nearly the whole of the western portion of this area, and have disclosed the plan of the building, but all has been so completely destroyed that it requires considerable skill and imagination to reinstate it in its previous form. The one part that remains tolerably perfect is the so-called house of Livia, the Avife of Augustus, who is said to have lived in it after the death of her husband. In dimensions and arrangement it is not unlike the best class of Pompeian houses, but its j^aintings and decorations are very superior to anything found in that city. They are, in fact, as might be expected from their age and position, the finest mural decorations that have come down to us, and as they are still wonder- fully perfect, they give a very high idea of the perfection of art attained in the Augustan age, to which they certainly belong.