Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/206

 the resources of unapproachable Greek art, had been begun and almost accomplished by Augustus. The pride and magnificence of his successors, in their spirit of absolutism and self-adulation, had continued his work lavishly until the seven hills, with their disjunctive valleys, were hidden beneath a labyrinth of sculptured stone and marble:— pillared temples and palaces, great halls upheld by endless ranges of ornate columns, continuous porticoes, colonnaded squares occupied by lofty figured monuments and Egyptian obelisks, public baths of immense area decorated inside with fresco and mosaic, theatres and circuses on a vast scale, stupendous triumphal arches spanning the main thoroughfares at frequent intervals, splendid fountains, a crowd of statues almost equalling in number the people to be seen moving along the streets, and, lastly, even sepulchres of a magnitude and elaboration not surpassed by edifices intended for a concourse of the living. In their private sphere the great nobles emulated the work of the emperors, and constructed such extensive and costly dwellings that they were compared to reproductions in miniature of the city without. Beyond the walls the surburban area was so thickly populated as scarcely to be distinguished from