Page:The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages.djvu/321

 CHAP, x] ARCHITECTURE 303 The Romans used the Greek orders in the construc- tion of colonnades, or combined them with the arch, which may have come from Etruria. The arcade formed from this combination represented a Roman style, distinguishable from later forms taken directly from contemporary Greek designs, as the fashion was at Pompeii. In temples and basilicas, the Romans fol- lowed foreign traditions ; while their own constructive genius displayed itself in baths, aqueducts, amphi- theatres, fortifications, and roads. It was chiefly for architectural ornament that they looked to the Greek orders, just as they sought for pleasure in Greek liter- ature. They found no pleasure in ^schylus or Soph- ocles, nor did they find decoration in Doric. The exclusively supporting function of a Doric column was too manifest to permit its use as mere ornament. The Ionic was less austere ; but the Corinthian was most richly ornamental. The Romans ordinarily used this to support the architraves of basilicas, or when the piers of an arcade were to be ornamented with engaged columns. The general plan of the basilica was taken from the Greeks, and consisted, according to Vitruvius, of one central and two lateral naves, the latter having two stories, and the whole roofed in wood. If there were any general survival of Roman build- ings of the third and fourth centuries, the antecedents of Christian basilicas would not have become a special subject of archajological dispute. They would have been recognized as part of the usual Roman styles of construction, having architecturally neither origin nor development peculiar to themselves. No attempt would have been made to trace the Christian church