7(5

THE DECLINE AND FALL

CHAP.

II.

baths of Titus, the Claudian portico, and the. temples dedicated to the goddess of peace, andto the genius of Rome .' These monuments ofarchitecture, the property of the Roman people,were adorned with the most beautiful produc-tions of Grecian painting and sculpture; and inthe temple of peace, a very curious library wasopen to the curiosity of the learned. At a smalldistance from thence was situated the forum ofTrajan. It was surrounded with a lofty porti-co, in the form of a quadrangle, into which fourtriumphal arches opened a noble and spaciousentrance: in the centre arose a column of mar-ble, whose height, of one hundred and ten feet,denoted the elevation of the hill that had beencut away. This column, which still subsistsin its ancient beauty, exhibited an exact repre-sentation of the Dacian victories of its founder.The veteran soldier contemplated the story ofhis own campaigns, and by an easy illusion ofnational vanity, the peaceful citizen associatedhimself to the honours of the triumph. All theother quarters of the capital, and all the pro-vinces of the empire, were embellished by thesame liberal spirit of public magnificence, andwere filled with amphitheatres, theatres, tem-ples, porticos, triumphal arches, baths, and

c Donatus de Romi Vetere, 1. iii, c. 4, 5, 6. Nardini RomaAntica, 1. iii, 11, 12, 13, and a MS. description of ancient Rome ,by Bernardus Oriccllarius, or Rucellai , of which I obtained a copyfrom the library of the Canon Ricardi at Florence . Two celebratedpictures of Timanthes and of Protogenes are mentioned by Pliny , asin the temple of peace; and the Laocoon was found in the baths ofTitus.