Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/450

418 gallery corresponding with the triforium of Gothic churches. In both these instances it seems to have been suggested, if not required, by the peculiarity of the ground, which was higher on one side than on the other; but whether this was the true cause of its adoption or not, the effect was most satisfactory, and had it been persevered in so as to bring the upper colonnade more into harmony of proportion with the other, it would have been attended with the happiest results on the

style. Whether it was, however, that the Romans felt the Avant of the broad plain space for their paintings, or that they could not bring the upper arches in proportion with the classical pillars which they made use of, the system was abandoned almost as soon as adopted, and never came into general use.

It is not now easy to judge what the effect of this was in the original church of St. Lorenzo, owing to the numerous alterations it has undergone, for the original church of Constantine seems to have been entirely swept away. That of Pelagius which we now see is in plan somewhat like that of Sta. Agnese, only with five pillars on each