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6fec ted 6 f S ^ 0Ws » and therefore only temporary buildings were8 ; ° r purpose. Of these, however, some were of^ile, e 6 an< i magnificence; M. -ZEmilius Scaurus, whenHieij j e cted one capable of containing 80,000 persons,re ported to have been sumptuously decorated. An-Hi ch ® at , re was erected by Curio, one of Cassar’s partisans,ti mb er Ul)itecl S reat mechanical skill. Two large theatres^fleeted W ? re cons tructed back to back, and on one side sot j le ^ith hinges and machinery for the purpose, thata s ^Hrr “‘eatrical exhibitions had closed, they were wheeledafte r r ° Und > so as to form an amphitheatre, wherein, in‘^atfg a °° n > shows of gladiators were exhibited. Pompey ’sV^tinc* 4* ^uilt of stone, and was made capable of accom-o “10,000 persons ; it was surrounded by a portico for
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B t K -i® aus pices of Julius Caesar , many new and mag--j u “dings were erected. On his return from Utica ,tha n ' l r eef °ld victory, he brought into the treasury no0t ded j. d >000 talents, and 2,822 crowns of gold, which
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„ l0 every facility for carrying out bis magnificentcir C g a ’ aon gst which may be mentioned the extension of> and formation of n lake for the exhibition of Eewn-
&nd ’n' v “. u formation of a lake for the exhibition of Egyp ->of wh^ r ' an 8 ade y s > a new forum, two temples to Venus,J?C|lejgg lca was on an exceedingly grand scale, and a third5 draig 110 ^' Besides these, he commenced a vast theatre,l he Pontine marshes, the improvement of the
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l o M ' n S of' p 0m t ' le Adriatic to Rome ; add to this, the re-V a ^ or * nt * 1 an d Carthage , and we shall be enabled?*'s Con ception of the vast ideas and ready execution
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' |iij ^ fop lntr °d u cti°n as this was worthy the golden agej tL^ed h 6d , in the next reign, an age which the peace! tyjj. «m t | Vat y ^ le victorious arms of Caesar , had yielded toj tei,^ 1 led t| l ° n °1' c *vil arts, and that excessive refinement: g 8tl ia 0st Way to luxury and consequent ruin. In thisI '•> h d froJ? ^* e dnest buildings were erected, ami architectsI jJ^Htitify. ad fi ua rters, and especially from Greece , to assist' ejg'j 1 ” Bie city, the latter being highly esteemed and8 * a ri(l a J, J ( )°y ed > ' n short, Greece at this time had become| tj^ 1 bu t i n °i' taste amongst the Romans, not only in thej Wp r< flect C f Ustoma and manners. Augustus had conceived1 d > and° taking Rome the most splendid city in the-'pi^atest n ° l on 'y set about embellishing it himself withPerson ^ cdour > but also incited his friends, and the prin-; i th ey a ® e3 °f the empire to follow his example, which■ i ■Eter er 616 not s ^ ow * n following; and amongst theliyj^alfjjj^, ect ed by them maybe mentioned, a temple ofj Of (V Corfi ( j: Sa 8 etes , by Marcius Philippus; a temple of Diana,
! a ? a > of Saturn, by M. Plaucus ; of Concord, and
tl W Ui! Poll; ^ odux > by Tiberius ; the Atrium Libertatis, bySi at r e ,b'V a theatre, by Cornelius Balbus ; and an am-! ^il^aislied .ablius Taurus. His friend Agrippa was highlySu'^ 8 ) aq u t l'' s respect; he erected many magnificentabo v educts > baths, fountains, &c., but he stands pre-a H bis countrymen, by the erection of thatNt'i^ledifi ^aaan skill and enterprise, the Pantheon. TheoPotr^Ple or\T erecte< l by Augustus himself were—the forum'i* 0 a nd i'j” 11 ' 3 Ubor; the temple of Apollo Palatine, withSa 8 ° ’ file lar ary; the temple of Jupiter Tonans, on the^ l,j atld liHej* 01 ^ 1 ’ 003 °f Bivia and Octavia ; the basilica of’b*elf as > the theatre of Marcellus; and a mausoleumd family. After such an enumeration, the
boast of Augustus will not appear a vain one, “ that he foundRome built of brick, and left it of marble.”
During the reigns of the immediate successors of Augus-tus , architecture fell into decline, and the only building ofany importance which we hear of before Nero ’s time, is theAqua Claudia , a large aqueduct, which was completed by IClaudius. Its length was 46 miles, and for more than 10 itwas carried on arches more than 100 feet above the level of ;the ground. Nero ’s edifices were gorgeous in the extreme, ibut more remarkable for expensive decoration than intrinsic jmerit of design ; his Domus Aurea is a remarkable specimenof his prodigality in such matters; it was erected by two 1architects, Severus and Celer, and was most lavishly embel-lished, so that it would be difficult to form an idea of itsexpense.
Under Vespasian , and his successors, architecture againflourished, to which the remains of the Coliseum abundantlytestify. This building was commenced by Vespasian , andcompleted by his son Titus, and its erection is said to haveoccupied no greater space of time than two years and nine imonths; it covered nearly six acres of ground, and wasreported capable of containing 109,000 spectators. The reignof Titus is also remarkable for the erection of the baths andtriumphal arch which bear his name. Trajan is the nextname worthy of record, as a liberal patron of architec-ture, and amongst his works may be mentioned the forum,triumphal arch, and column which has never yet been sur-passed. His bridge over the Danube , which was destroyed jby Hadrian , was a bold undertaking; it is reported to have jconsisted of 20 stone piers, 60 feet wide, and 150 in height,the arches between being not less than 170 feet in span; hisarchitect was Apollodorus , who fell a victim to his master’s jjealousy, for blaming his architectural plans. Few princes jerected a greater number of edifices than did Hadrian ,amongst which were the Maison Carre6 at Nismes, his villaand mausoleum, the amphitheatres at Capua and Verona,and the bridge over the Tagus at Alcantara. Besides these,he re-built Jerusalem , which he styled JElia Capitolina, alsopart of the temple of Jupiter Olympus at Athens. In thisreign also an aqueduct was constructed by Herodes Atticus tosupply Troas with water, and, by the same man, a stadiumat Athens 600 feet long, a stadium at Delphi, a theatre atCorinth, and baths at Thermopylm.
Under the Antonines were erected the temple of Antoni-nus and Faustina, the Antonine column, and that of MarcusAurelius , besides many other temples and works in the pro-vinces, amongst which may be enumerated the re-buildingof Smyrna, Laodicea , and other Asiatic cities. After thisperiod architecture gradually declined ; a little improvementmay be seen in the reigns of Septimius and Alexander Seve-rus , but taste had greatly deteriorated, and art had fallen tctoo low an ebb to be restored. Antoninus Pius is reportedto have erected the vast edifices of Balbec and Palmyra, butthe subject admits of a doubt. Dioclesian made a bold effortto restore architecture to its original position, but it wasbeyond his power, and although his buildings, his baths, andhis palace at Spalatro were magnificent in point of extent,and a certain kind of grandeur, yet they bear evident tokensof the state into which architecture had fallen. The palaceat Spalatro covered between nine and ten acres, one of thesides being 600, and the other 700 feet in length ; attachedto it was a portico 500 feet long, embellished with paintingand sculpture. Constantine was a great builder, but hetransferred the seat of empire to Byzantium, and thus Romanarchitecture was superseded by the new style which he intro-duced in his new capital. This change, however, is to be the iless regretted, inasmuch as Roman art had already degene- ,