in works of national honour and benefit, that the most virtuous of the emperors affected to display their magnificence. The golden palace of Nero excited a just indignation, but the vast extent of ground which had been ufurped by his felfish luxury, was more nobly filled under the fucceeding reigns by the Coliseum, the baths of Titus, the Claudian portico, and the temples dedicated to the goddess of Peace, and to the genius of Rome". These monuments of architecture, the property of the Roman people, were adorned with the most beautiful productions of Grecian painting and sculpture; and in the temple of Peace, a very curious library was open to the curiofity of the learned. At a fmall diftance from thence was fituated the Forum of Trajan. It was furrounded with a lofty portico, in the form of a quadrangle, into which four triumphal arches opened a noble and fpacious entrance in the centre arose a column of marble, whose height, of one hundred and ten feet, denoted the elevation of the hill that had been cut away. This column, which ftill fubfifts in its ancient beauty, exhibited an exact representation of the Dacian victories of its founder. The veteran foldier contemplated the ftory of his own campaigns, and by an easy illufion of national vanity, the peaceful citizen affociated himself to the honours of the triumph. All the other quarters of the capital, and all the provinces of the empire, were embellished by the fanie liberal spirit of public magnificence, and were filled with amphitheatres, theatres, temples, porticos, triumphal arches, baths, and II. aqueducts, all variously conducive to the health, CHAP. the devotion, and the pleasures of the meaneft citizen. The last mentioned of those edifices deferve our peculiar attention. The boldness of the enterprife, the folidity of the execution, and the uses to which they were fubfervient, rank the aque ducts among the nobleft monuments of Roman genius and power. The aqueducts of the capital claim a just pre-eminence; but the curious traveller, who, without the light of history, should examine thofe of Spoleto, of Metz, or of Segovia, would very naturally conclude, that those provincial towns had formerly been the refidence of fome potent monarch. The folitudes of Afia and Africa were once covered with flourishing cities, whose populousness, and even whofe existence, was derived from fuch artificial fupplies of a perennial ftream of fresh water ". Number and greatnefs of the cities of the empire. We have computed the inhabitants, and contemplated the public works, of the Roman empire. The obfervation of the number and greatnefs of its cities will ferve to confirm the former, and to multiply the latter. It may not be unpleafing to collect a few fcattered inftances relative to that fubject, without forgetting, however, that from the vanity of nations and the poverty of language, the vague appellation of city has been indifferently bestowed on Rome and upon Laurentum. Ancient In Italy. Italy is faid to have contained eleven hundred and ninety-feven cities; and for whatsoever æra of antiquity the expreffion might be intended", there is not any reason to believe the country lefs popu CHAP. II. Gaul and lous in the age of the Antonines, than in' that of Romulus. The petty states of Latium were contained within the metropolis of the empire, by whose fuperior influence they had been attracted. Those parts of Italy which have fo long languished under the lazy tyranny of priests and viceroys, had been afflicted only by the more tolerable calamities of war; and the first symptoms of decay, which they experienced, were amply compensated by the rapid improvements of the Cifalpine Gaul. The fplendor of Verona may be traced in its remains: yet Verona was lefs celebrated than Aquileia or Padua, Milan or Ravenna. II. The fpirit of improvement had paffed the Alps, and been felt even in the woods of Britain, which were gradually cleared away to open a free space for convenient and elegant habi tations. York was the feat of government; London was already enriched by commerce; and Bath was celebrated for the falutary effects of its medicinal waters. Gaul could boaft of her twelve hundred cities"; and though, in the northern parts, many of them, without excepting Paris itself, were little more than the rude and imperfect townships of a rifing people; the fouthern provinces imitated the wealth and elegance of Italy ". Many were the cities of Gaul, Marseilles, Arles, Nifmes, Narbonne, Thoulouse, Bourdeaux, Autun, Vienna, Lyons, Langres, and Treves, whofe ancient condition might fuftain an equal, and perhaps advantageous comparison with their prefent ftate. With regard to Spain, that country flourished as a province, and has declined as a kingdom. Exhaufted by 78 77 II. Africa: by the abuse of her strength, by America, and CHAP. by fuperftition, her pride might poffibly be confounded, if we required fuch a lift of three hundred and fixty cities, as Pliny has exhibited under the reign of Vefpafian ". III. Three hundred African cities had once acknowledged the authority of Carthage nor is it likely that their numbers diminished under the administration of the emperors: Carthage itself rose with new fplendor from its ashes; and that capital, as well as Capua and Corinth, foon recovered all the advantages which can be separated from independent fovereignty. IV. The provinces of the east present the contrast of Roman magnificence with Turkish barbarism. The ruins of antiquity scattered over uncultivated fields, and ascribed, by ignorance, to the power of magic, fcarcely afford a shelter to the oppreffed peasant or wandering Arab. Under the reign of the Cæfars, the proper Afia alone contained five hundred populous cities " enriched with all the gifts of 80 79 nature, and adorned with all the refinements of art. Eleven cities of Afia had once difputed the honour of dedicating a temple to Tiberius, and their respective merits were examined by the fenate ". Four of them were immediately rejected as unequal to the burden; and among thefe was Laodicea, whofe fplendor is ftill difplayed in its ruins". Laodicea collected a very confiderable revenue from its flocks of sheep, celebrated for the fineness of their wool, and had received, a little before the conteft, a legacy of above four hundred thousand pounds by the teftament of a generous Vol. I. E Age. CHAP. II. Roman citizen. If fuch was the poverty of Laodicea, what must have been the wealth of those cities, whofe claim appeared preferable, and particularly of Pergamus, of Smyrna, and of Ephefus, who fo long difputed with each other the titular primacy of Afia"? The capitals of Syria and Egypt held a ftill fuperior rank in the empire: Antioch and Alexandria looked down with difdain on a crowd of dependent cities and yielded, with reluctance, to the majesty of Rome itself. 84 All these cities were connected with each other, and with the capital, by the public highways, which iffuing from the Forum of Rome, traversed Italy, pervaded the provinces, and were terminated only by the frontiers of the empire. If we carefully trace the distance from the wall of Antoninus to Rome, and from thence to Jerusalem, it will be found that the great chain of communication, from the north-west tho the foutheast point of the empire, was drawn was drawn out to the length of four thousand and eighty Roman miles". The public roads were accurately divided by mile-ftones, and ran in a direct line from one city to another, with very little refpect for the obstacles either of nature or private property. Mountains were perforated, and bold arches thrown over the broadeft and most rapid ftreams The middle part of the road was raised into a terrace which commanded the adjacent country, confifted of feveral ftrata of fand, gravel, and cement, and was paved with large ftones, or in fome places, near the capital, with granite ". Such 86 |