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principal cities. His short visit of thirty days chap.was employed in viewing the monuments of artand power, which were scattered over the se-ven hills and the interjacent valleys. He ad-mired the awful majesty of the capitol, the vastextent of the baths of Caracalla and Diocletian ,the severe simplicity of the pantheon, the massygreatness of the amphitheatre of Titus, the ele-gant architecture of the theatre of Pompey andthe temple of Peace, and, above all, the statelystructure of the forum and column of Trajan;acknowledging that the voice of fame, so proneto invent and to magnify, had made an inade-quate report of the metropolis of the world.

• The traveller, who has contemplated the ruinsof ancient Rome , may conceive some imperfectidea of the sentiments which they must haveinspired when they reared their heads in thesplendour of unsullied beauty.

The satisfaction which Constantius had re- A newceived from this journey excited him to the ge-nerous emulation of bestowing on the Romanssome memorial of his own gratitude and muni-ficence. His first idea was to imitate the eques-trian and colossal statue which he had seen inthe forum of Trajan; but when he had mature-ly weighed the difficulties of the execution,’ he

* Hunnisdas, a fugitive prince of Persia, observed to the emperor,that if he made such a horse, he must think of preparing a similar sta-ble (the forum of Trajan). Another saying of Honnisdas is recorded,“ that one tiling only had displeased him, to find that men died at Rome as well as elsewhere. 1 * If we adopt this reading of the text of Arum*anus (displicuisse instead of placuisse), we may consider it as a reproof,of Roman vanity. The contrary sense would be that of a misaathrone.

VOL. III.

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