Chapter 19

[117]Dupaty; Stuart; Swinburne; Eustace; Clarke; Forsyth; Williams; Chambers; Knight; Parker; Rees; Brewster.

[118]See Herculaneum, vol. i. p. 335.

[119]Ibid.

[120]It is well known that the Romans constructed with great solidity, and maintained with constant care, roads diverging from the capital to the extremities of the empire. The good condition of these was thought to be of such importance, that the charge was only entrusted to persons of the highest dignity, and Augustus himself assumed the care of those in the neighbourhood of Rome. The expense of their construction was enormous, but they were built to last for ever, and to this day remain entire and level, in many parts of the world, where they have not been exposed to destructive violence. They usually were raised some height above the ground which they traversed, and proceeded in as straight a line as possible, running over hill and valley with a sovereign contempt for all the principles of engineering. They consisted of three distinct layers of materials; the lowest, stones mixed with cement, (statumen); the middle, gravel or small stones, (rudera), to prepare a level and unyielding surface to receive the upper and most important structure, which consisted of large masses accurately fitted together. It is curious to observe that, after many ages of imperfect paving, we have returned to the same plan. The new pavement of Cheapside and Holborn is based in the same way upon broken granite, instead of loose earth which is constantly working through the interstices, and vitiating the solid bearing which the stones should possess. A further security against its working into holes is given by dressing each stone accurately to the same breadth, and into the form of a wedge, like the voussoirs of an arch, so that each tier of stones spans the street like a bridge. This is an improvement on the Roman system: they depended for the solidity of their construction on the size of their blocks, which were irregularly shaped, although carefully and firmly fitted. These roads, especially in the neighbourhood of cities, had, on both sides, raised footways (margines), protected by curb-stones, which defined the extent of the central part (agger) for carriages. The latter was barrelled, that no water might lie upon it.—Gell.

[121]Knight.

[122]Knight.

[123]Knight.

[124]Brewster.

[125]Chambers.

[126]Anon.

[127]Chambers.

[128]Chambers.

[129]Anon.

[130]Chambers.

[131]Ibid.

[132]Philip.

[133]Brewster.

[134]Anon.

[135]Parker.

[136]Chambers.

[137]Knight.

[138]Knight.

[139]Brewster.

[140]Brewster.

[141]Chambers.

[142]Blunt.

[143]Gell.

[144]Parker.

[145]Chambers.

[146]Taylor.

[147]Pliny; Dupaty; Taylor; Knight; Chambers; Parker; Encyclop. Londinensis and Metropolitana, Rees’ and Britannica; Phillips; Chateaubriand; Eustace; Forsyth; Blunt; Stuart; Clarke; Williams; Gell.

[148]Jeremiah xxxi. 15.

[149]Brewster; Clarke.

[150]The conquest of Greece contributed to the decay and ruin of that very empire, by introducing into Rome, by the wealth it brought into it, a taste and love for luxury and effeminate pleasures; for it is from the victory over Antiochus, and the conquest of Asia, that Pliny dates the depravity and corruption of manners in the republic of Rome, and the fatal changes which ensued. Asia, vanquished by the Roman arms, afterwards vanquished Rome by its vices. Foreign wealth extinguished in that city a love for the ancient poverty and simplicity, in which its strength and honour consisted. Luxury, that in a manner entered Rome in triumph with the superb spoils of Asia, brought with her in her train irregularities and crimes of every kind, made greater havoc in the city than the mightiest armies could have done, and in that manner avenged the conquered globe.—Rollin.

[151]The cicerone said to the king of Sweden, as that monarch was looking over the ruins of the Coliseum,—“Ah, sire, what cursed Goths those were, that tore away so many fine things here, and pulled down such magnificent pillars, &c.”. “Hold, hold, friend,” cried the king, “what were your Roman nobles doing, I would ask, when they laboured to destroy an edifice like this, and build their palaces with its materials!”

[152]Knight.

[153]“The public colossal statues of Castor and Pollux, said to be by Phidias and Praxiteles, on Monte Cavallo,” says Mr. Williams, “are superior to all the statues of that description which I have seen in Italy. Both of the figures are in the act of guiding their horses, and are remarkable for lightness and manly beauty; suggesting no idea of huge blocks of marble, as most of the colossal statues do. The proportions of these figures are exquisite, and from certain points appear little inferior to the finest statues in the world. The horses, however, are not so well proportioned. That the sculptors might give dignity to the figures, they have made the horses comparatively small—a liberty which will not be condemned by the judicious critic.”

[154]Parker.

[155]Knight.

[156]“After the fall of Rome,” says Vasi, “and particularly in the year 1084, when Robert Guiscard visited the city, this spot, so famous, was despoiled of all its ornaments; and the buildings having been in great part ruined, it has served from that time to our days as a market for oxen and cows, whence is derived the name ofCampo Vaccino(cow-field), under which it was lately known. At the present day, however, it has lost that vile denomination, and obtained again the appellation ofForum Romanum.” Mr. Woods, however, says, that it was calledCampo Vaccino, not as being the market, but as the place where the long-horned oxen, which have drawn the carts of the country-people to Rome, wait till their masters are ready to go back again. Vasi is mistaken, in saying that “this vile denomination” has been lost; it never will be lost—it is too accurately descriptive—it tells the tale of degradation too well, not to last as long as the Forum remains. Nor would it be correct to call the space markedCampo Vaccino, in the modern maps of Rome, by the name ofForum Romanum,—orForo Romano, to use the Italian form. The Campo Vaccino is a much larger space than the existing remnant of the ancient Forum; and though it is quite correct to call that remnant a part of the Campo Vaccino, yet to call the Campo Vaccino the Forum Romanum, would give rise to very incorrect notions concerning the limits and site of the ancient Forum.—Anon.

[157]Chambers.

[158]Eustace.

[159]Eustace.

[160]Kennett.

[161]Prima pares ineunt gravibus certamina remisQuatuor ex omni delecta classe carinæ, &c.

Prima pares ineunt gravibus certamina remisQuatuor ex omni delecta classe carinæ, &c.

[162]Knight.

[163]Kennet.

[164]Parker.

[165]Parker.

[166]Ibid.

[167]Forsyth.

[168]Knight.

[169]Eustace.

[170]Kennet.

[171]Parker.

[172]Parker.

[173]Knight.

[174]Kennet.

[175]Eustace.

[176]Kennet.

[177]Parker.

[178]Simond.

[179]Pope Boniface IV. dedicated it to the Virgin; and removed into it the bones of various saints and martyrs from the different cemeteries, enough to fill twenty-eight waggons.

[180]Parker.

[181]Parker.

[182]Kennet.

[183]Wood.

[184]Anon.

[185]Burford.

[186]The Basilicæ were very spacious and beautiful edifices, designed chiefly for the centumviri, or the judges to sit in and hear causes, and for the counsellors to receive clients. The bankers, too, had one part of it allotted for their residence. Vossius has observed, that these Basilicæ were exactly in the shape of our churches, oblong almost like a ship; which was the reason that upon the ruin of so many of them Christian churches were several times raised on the old foundations, and very often a whole Basilica converted to such a pious use; and hence, perhaps, all our great domos or cathedrals are still called Basilicæ.

[187]Burford.

[188]Kennet.

[189]Some give the dimensions thus:—Greatest length six hundred and twenty-one feet; greatest breadth five hundred and thirteen; outer wall one hundred and fifty-seven feet high in its whole extent.

[190]Forsyth.

[191]Ibid.

[192]Bede.

[193]Brewster.

[194]Except that of the Jews.

[195]Livy; Cicero; Dionysius of Halicarnassus; Seneca; Pliny; Tacitus; Dion Cassius; Poggio Bracciolini; Rollin; Taylor; Kennet; Hooke; Gibbon; Middleton; Dupaty; Vasi; Chateaubriand; Wraxall; Wood; Forsyth; Eustace; Gell; Encylop. Metropolitana, Brewster, Rees, Britannica, Londinensis; Parker (Sat. Magazine); Knight (Penny Magazine); Burford; Hobhouse; Simond; Rome in the Nineteenth Century; Williams; Mathews; Burton.

[196]Ardea was a city of Latium. Some soldiers having set it on fire, the inhabitants propagated a report that their town had been changed into a bird! It was rebuilt, and became a very rich and magnificent town, whose enmity to Rome rendered it famous. Tarquin was besieging this city when his son dishonoured Lucretia.

[197]Some suppose that he then gave it the name of Spargetone.

[198]Polybius; Livy; Pliny; Rollin; Kennett; Jose.

[199]As he was but of mean extraction, he met with no respect, but was only contemned by his subjects, in the beginning of his reign. He was not insensible of this; but nevertheless thought it his interest to subdue their tempers by an artful carriage, and win their affection by gentleness and reason. He had a golden cistern in which himself, and those persons who were admitted to his table, used to wash their feet: he melted it down, and had it cast into a statue, and then exposed the new god to public worship. The people hastened in crowds to pay their adoration to the statue. The king, having assembled the people, informed them of the vile uses to which this statue had once been put, which nevertheless had now their religious prostrations. The application was easy, and had the desired success; the people thenceforward paid the king all the respect that is due to majesty.He always used to devote the whole morning to public affairs, in order to receive petitions, give audience, pronounce sentence, and hold his councils: the rest of the day was given to pleasure; and asAmasis, in hours of diversion, was extremely gay, and seemed to carry his mirth beyond due bounds, his courtiers took the liberty to represent to him the unsuitableness of such a behaviour; when he answered, that it was as impossible for the mind to be always serious and intent upon business, as for a bow to continue always bent.It was this king who obliged the inhabitants of every town to enter their names in a book, kept by the magistrate for that purpose, with their professions, and manner of living. Solon inserted this custom among his laws.

He always used to devote the whole morning to public affairs, in order to receive petitions, give audience, pronounce sentence, and hold his councils: the rest of the day was given to pleasure; and asAmasis, in hours of diversion, was extremely gay, and seemed to carry his mirth beyond due bounds, his courtiers took the liberty to represent to him the unsuitableness of such a behaviour; when he answered, that it was as impossible for the mind to be always serious and intent upon business, as for a bow to continue always bent.

It was this king who obliged the inhabitants of every town to enter their names in a book, kept by the magistrate for that purpose, with their professions, and manner of living. Solon inserted this custom among his laws.

[200]Now in the vestibule of the university library at Cambridge.

[201]Herodotus; Apollonius Rhodius; Rollin; Egmont and Heyman; Clarke.

[202]II. Chronicles, ch. xi.

[203]Rees; Malte-Brun; Browne.

[204]Σεβαστός, in Greek, signifies Augustus.

[205]Clarke; La Martine.

[206]Chap. iii. 1-4.

[207]Phalaris.

[208]The Pactolus flowed through the centre of the Forum at Sardis, and brought, in its descent from Tmolus, a quantity of gold dust. Hence the vast riches of Crœsus. It ceased to do this in the age of Augustus.

[209]Herodotus; Pindar; Polyænus; Plutarch; Arrian; Quintus Curtius; Rollin; Wheler; Chandler; Peysonell.

[210]Lib. i. v. 10.

[211]Lib. i. c. 17, 18, 19.

[212]Most authors agree that the Parthians were Scythians by origin, who made an invasion on the more southern provinces of Asia, and at last fixed their residence near Hyrcania. They remained long unnoticed, and even unknown, and became successively tributary to the empire of the Assyrians, then of the Medes, and thirdly, of Persia.When Alexander invaded Persia, the Parthians submitted to his authority, like other cities of Asia. After his death, they fell successively under the power of Eumenes, Antigonus, Seleucus Nicanor, and Antiochus. At length, in consequence of the rapacity of Antiochus’s lieutenant, whose name was Agathocles, Arsaces, a man of great military powers, raised a revolt, and subsequently founded the Parthian empire, about two hundred and fifty years before the Christian era. Arsaces’ successors were called, after him, the Arsacidæ.

When Alexander invaded Persia, the Parthians submitted to his authority, like other cities of Asia. After his death, they fell successively under the power of Eumenes, Antigonus, Seleucus Nicanor, and Antiochus. At length, in consequence of the rapacity of Antiochus’s lieutenant, whose name was Agathocles, Arsaces, a man of great military powers, raised a revolt, and subsequently founded the Parthian empire, about two hundred and fifty years before the Christian era. Arsaces’ successors were called, after him, the Arsacidæ.

[213]For the precise situation of Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Modain, and Bagdad, cities often confounded with each other, see an excellent geographical map of M. d’Anville, in Mém. de l’Académie, tom. xxx.

[214]Dion, l. lxxv. p. 1263; Herodian, 1. iii. 120; Gibbon, vol. i. 335.

[215]Pietro della Valle, Olivier, Otter, &c.

[216]Pliny; Prideaux; Gibbon; Gillies; Rees; Brewster; Malte-Brun; Porter; Robinson.

[217]Vid. Mannert, Géographie des Grecs et des Romains, t. v. p. i. p. 397, 403, &c.

[218]The following observations are by the same hand. They may be taken as a supplement to our article entitledÆgina:—“In the Phigalian room of the British Museum, against the southern wall, a pediment has recently been erected, corresponding with that opposite, which contains eleven of the casts from the Ægina statues. On this are placed five more, which were brought from the ruins of the same temple of Jupiter Panhelleneus, in the island of Ægina. These five statues were all that were found belonging to the eastern front sufficiently in a state of preservation to assure of their original destination and design; and it is the more to be lamented, as that was the principal façade of the edifice, and contained the great entrance into the soros of the temple. This front was by far the most magnificent in its decorations; the esplanade before it extending one hundred, while that of the western was but fifty feet; the statues also on this tympanum were more numerous, there being originally on this fourteen figures, and but eleven on the other; they are also both in style and sculpture far superior, and appear as the work of the master, the others, in comparison, as those of the scholars. The superiority of conception and manner is apparent, the forms are more muscular and robust, the veins and muscles more displayed, an imitation of a maturer nature. At the first opening of the ruins twenty-five statues were discovered, besides the four female figures belonging to the Acroteria. To the artist the canon of proportion and the system of anatomical expression observable throughout the whole may be regarded as the models whence was derived that still bolder style of conception which afterwards distinguished the sculptors and made the perfection of the Athenian school; what the works of Ghulandia were to Raphael, these were to Phidias. The surprise of the common observer may be excited when he contemplates these figures, however disadvantageous the circumstances under which he views them. Perhaps he cannot call to mind in the capital of his country, however civilisation and the arts may have advanced, any sculptures of the nineteenth century which appear equally imposing; the more so, when he reflects that the history of their origin is buried in the darkness of two thousand four hundred years. Long after this period Lysippus held as a principal of the ideal which has in later times been too generally followed, to make men as they seem to be, not as they really are. In this group there is not, as seen in the opposite one, any figure immediately under the centre of the tympanum; that of Minerva, which was found, and which, no doubt, had occupied it, being thought too much broken to be placed. The one nearest is the figure of a warrior, who appears as having fallen wounded to the ground. He is supporting himself on the right arm, endeavouring to rise. The hand no doubt held a sword, as the rivets of bronze still remaining indicate. On the left arm is a shield held close to the body, the hand enclasping the τελαμών, or holder. The countenance, contrary to the one in a similar position on the opposite pediment, seems calmly to regard, and to mark the moment to resist with any chance of success an advancing adversary, who is rushing forward to seize his spoils. Whether this statue is rightly placed we think will admit of doubt. The figure rushing forward could not have inflicted the wound by which he has been disabled, and it seems more probable that an arrow, which an archer at the extreme of the pediment has just discharged, has been the cause of his wound, and that it should, instead of being on the ground, have been placed as if in the act of falling. In the attitude of the attacking warrior, a desire is shown to give the greatest interest to the action; the position of the right leg seems calculated to give movement to the figure as seen from below; behind the fallen an unarmed figure is stooping forward, apparently to raise him; but this statue would seem rather to belong to the other pediment, where a hollow is found in the pedestal on which the Goddess Minerva stands, which appears to have been made to allow room for its advance. Among the statues found, but broken, was one which stood nearly over the body of the wounded hero, to defend him against the advancing enemy before mentioned. Near the archer is another combatant on the ground; the countenance of this figure is aged, the beard most minutely sculptured; it is of a square form, and descends to the breast; on the lip are long mustachios. It is by far the most aged of either group, and appears to be a chief of consequence; he is raising himself on his shield; the expression of the face is very fine, it has a smile on it, though evidently in pain. The archer is a Phrygian, and his body is protected by leathern armour; as he has no shield allowed, he is holding the bow, which is small and of the Indian shape, in the left hand, with the arm outstretched; the bow-string has been drawn to the ear, the arrow seems just to have sped, and the exultation of the countenance shows it has taken effect. Three of these figures have that sort of helmet which defends the face by a guard descending over the nose, and the back by the length of the λόφος, or crest, or horsehair,crista; the shields are massy and large, they are the Argive ἀσπὶς ἔγκυκλος, circular shields, and the handles are nicely framed. The inside of all of them were painted in red colour, and within a circle of the exterior a blue colour was seen, on which was pictured, without doubt, the symbol adopted by the hero; for on a fragment of one of those belonging to this front was in relief a part of a female figure. The remaining figures belonging to this tympanum, the fragments of which were found, were principally archers.“Those statues offer the only illustration now extant of the armour of the heroic ages. The bodies of all the figures of this pediment, with the exception of the archer who is encased in leathern armour, are uncovered. The great minuteness of execution in the details corresponds with the exactness which Æschylus, Homer, and the earlier writers of the heroic age have preserved in their descriptions; in the whole of these statues this is observable in every tie and fastening. It would appear that the whole had undergone the strictest scrutiny; as, in each, those parts which, from their position on the building, could not have been seen, are found equally exact: in every particular they are the same as those which are traced on the vases of the most Archaic style, where they are delineated in black on a red ground, as is seen in the Museum collection. The two female figures on the apex of the pediment are clothed; the drapery falls in thick folds around the figure; in their hands they hold the pomegranate flower; the feet are on a small plinth; they are the Ἐλπίς of the Greeks, the Goddess of Hope, so well known in museums and on coins, and their situation here is peculiarly appropriate, as presiding over an undecided combat. It does not appear that any of the figures on either pediment had any support to fix them in position but the cornice where they came in contact with it; they must all have been easily removable; and perhaps it may not be unreasonable to suppose, that on particular festivals they were so disposed as to represent the actions then in celebration, to recall to the imagination of the votaries the reason for those sacrifices then offered to the god who presided over the temple. This would account why almost all the celebrated groups of antiquity, which have decorated the façades of their sacred edifices, among which may be reckoned those of the Parthenon, the Sicilian Adrimetum, and the Ægina, are so completely finished, and shows how what would otherwise seem a waste both of talent and labour, was brought to account.”

“Those statues offer the only illustration now extant of the armour of the heroic ages. The bodies of all the figures of this pediment, with the exception of the archer who is encased in leathern armour, are uncovered. The great minuteness of execution in the details corresponds with the exactness which Æschylus, Homer, and the earlier writers of the heroic age have preserved in their descriptions; in the whole of these statues this is observable in every tie and fastening. It would appear that the whole had undergone the strictest scrutiny; as, in each, those parts which, from their position on the building, could not have been seen, are found equally exact: in every particular they are the same as those which are traced on the vases of the most Archaic style, where they are delineated in black on a red ground, as is seen in the Museum collection. The two female figures on the apex of the pediment are clothed; the drapery falls in thick folds around the figure; in their hands they hold the pomegranate flower; the feet are on a small plinth; they are the Ἐλπίς of the Greeks, the Goddess of Hope, so well known in museums and on coins, and their situation here is peculiarly appropriate, as presiding over an undecided combat. It does not appear that any of the figures on either pediment had any support to fix them in position but the cornice where they came in contact with it; they must all have been easily removable; and perhaps it may not be unreasonable to suppose, that on particular festivals they were so disposed as to represent the actions then in celebration, to recall to the imagination of the votaries the reason for those sacrifices then offered to the god who presided over the temple. This would account why almost all the celebrated groups of antiquity, which have decorated the façades of their sacred edifices, among which may be reckoned those of the Parthenon, the Sicilian Adrimetum, and the Ægina, are so completely finished, and shows how what would otherwise seem a waste both of talent and labour, was brought to account.”

[219]Livy; Rollin; Swinburne; Parker; Knight; Hamilton.

[220]Dodwell.

[221]Clarke.

[222]A stadium was a place in the form of a circus, for the running of men and horses.

[223]Williams.

[224]Pausanias; Barthelemy; Rollin; Wheler; Clarke; Dodwell; Williams; Byron.

[225]Gen. x. ver. 15.

[226]Gen. xlix. ver. 13.

[227]Drummond’s Origines, vol. iii. p. 97. Homer makes the Phœnician woman speak, of whom mention is made in the Odyssey b. xv.—“I glory to be of Sidon abounding in brass, and am the daughter of the wealthy Arybas.”

[228]Zidon-rabbah: ch. xi. v. 8.

[229]“Neither did Ashur drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon.”—Judges i. 31.

[230]“Now, therefore, command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants; and unto thee I will give hire for thy servants, according to all that they shall appoint; for thou knowest that there is not amongst us any that has skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians.”—1 Kings, ch. x. v. 6.

[231]Dictys Cretensis acquaints us that Paris returned not directly to Troy after the rape of Helen, but fetched a compass, probably to avoid pursuit. He touched at Sidon, where he surprised the king of Phœnicia by night, and carried off many of his treasures and captives, among which probably were these Sidonian women.—Pope.

[232]“The common voyce and fame runneth, that there arrived certain merchants, in a ship laden with nitre, in the mouth of the river; and beeing landed, minded to seath their victuals upon the shore, and the very sands: but that they wanted other stones, to serve as trivets, to beare up their pans and cauldrons over the fire, they made shift with certaine pieces of sal-nitre out of the ship, to support the said pans, and so made fire underneath; which being once afire among the sand and gravell of the shore, they might perceive a certaine cleare liquor run from under the fire, in very streams, and hereupon they say came the first invention of making glass.”—Philemon Howard, Pliny, xxxvi. c. 26.

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