DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61893#0447
Ch. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 419
man art has ever erected. But to plunder the ve-
nerable monuments of imperial greatness^ in order
to deck the mansions of two upstart families, was
a sacrilege justly reprobated by the satirical lam-
poons of the indignant Romans.
We have now, I think, enumerated the princi-
pal causes of the destruction of Rome, very dif-
ferent from those assigned by the poet; and if to
the neglect of Emperors, the indifference of ma-
gistrates, the rapacity of individuals, the rage of
contesting factions, and the impoverishment of
the city, we add, the silent stroke of mouldering
Time, we shall have the list of destruction com-
plete. The few edifices that still survive, owe
their existence either to the protecting hand of
religion that warded, or to their own solidity
which defied, the blow levelled at their ma-
jestic forms by age or by malevolence. Some
instances of the former have already been given ;
of the latter, besides the tombs of Cestius and
Metella, the columns of Trajan and Antoninus
stand most magnificent examples. These superb
columns are of the same materials the finest white
marble, of nearly the same height about one hun-
dred and twenty feet; and of the same decora-
tions, as a series of sculpture winds in a spiral line
from the base to the capital of each, representing
the wars and triumphs of the respective Empe-
E E 2
man art has ever erected. But to plunder the ve-
nerable monuments of imperial greatness^ in order
to deck the mansions of two upstart families, was
a sacrilege justly reprobated by the satirical lam-
poons of the indignant Romans.
We have now, I think, enumerated the princi-
pal causes of the destruction of Rome, very dif-
ferent from those assigned by the poet; and if to
the neglect of Emperors, the indifference of ma-
gistrates, the rapacity of individuals, the rage of
contesting factions, and the impoverishment of
the city, we add, the silent stroke of mouldering
Time, we shall have the list of destruction com-
plete. The few edifices that still survive, owe
their existence either to the protecting hand of
religion that warded, or to their own solidity
which defied, the blow levelled at their ma-
jestic forms by age or by malevolence. Some
instances of the former have already been given ;
of the latter, besides the tombs of Cestius and
Metella, the columns of Trajan and Antoninus
stand most magnificent examples. These superb
columns are of the same materials the finest white
marble, of nearly the same height about one hun-
dred and twenty feet; and of the same decora-
tions, as a series of sculpture winds in a spiral line
from the base to the capital of each, representing
the wars and triumphs of the respective Empe-
E E 2