DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61893#0434
CLASSICAL TOUR
Chi XII
106
that have survived the general ruin such as the
temple of Vesta, that of Faunas, that of Fortuna
Virilis, and last, though first in estimation and
grandeur, the Pantheon itselfi
Having thus rejected as fabulous or inefficient
the causes produced by the poet, and admitted
by ignorance and prejudice with little or no
examination j it is necessary, and not difficult to
substitute in their place, the real agents that ef-
fected the degradation, and finally, the destruc-
tion of the noblest city that the world had ever
beheld.
Under the auspicious government of Trajan,
the empire of Rome had reached the utmost ex-
tent of its destined limits ; and Rome herself had
attained the full perfection of her beauty, and
the highest degree of her magnificence. Dur-
ing the virtuous administration of the Antonines,
that is, during the space of nearly a century,
this state of prosperity and glory continued un-
altered till the tyranny of Commodus revived
the memory and the disasters of the reigns of
Caligula, Nero, and Domitian, and ended, like
them, in assassination, civil war, and revolution,
^rom the portentous sera of the death of Perti-
nax, Rome ceased to be the fixed and habitual
residence of her Emperors, who were generally
Chi XII
106
that have survived the general ruin such as the
temple of Vesta, that of Faunas, that of Fortuna
Virilis, and last, though first in estimation and
grandeur, the Pantheon itselfi
Having thus rejected as fabulous or inefficient
the causes produced by the poet, and admitted
by ignorance and prejudice with little or no
examination j it is necessary, and not difficult to
substitute in their place, the real agents that ef-
fected the degradation, and finally, the destruc-
tion of the noblest city that the world had ever
beheld.
Under the auspicious government of Trajan,
the empire of Rome had reached the utmost ex-
tent of its destined limits ; and Rome herself had
attained the full perfection of her beauty, and
the highest degree of her magnificence. Dur-
ing the virtuous administration of the Antonines,
that is, during the space of nearly a century,
this state of prosperity and glory continued un-
altered till the tyranny of Commodus revived
the memory and the disasters of the reigns of
Caligula, Nero, and Domitian, and ended, like
them, in assassination, civil war, and revolution,
^rom the portentous sera of the death of Perti-
nax, Rome ceased to be the fixed and habitual
residence of her Emperors, who were generally