DOI Kapitel:
Chap. V: Magnificence of Ancient Rome - its Cloacæ - Aqueducts - Viæ - Forums - Temples - Thermæ - Theatres - Instances of private Magnificence - Greatness, the Characteristic of Roman Taste at all times
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62268#0168
158
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. V.
over not miles, but ages, and to have arrived at
a mansion where the agitations of the present are
absorbed in the contemplation of the past, and
the passions of this world are lost in the interests
of that which is to succeed it. Rome is not
therefore like Naples, the seat of mirth and dis-
sipation ; of public amusement, or even of pri-
vate conviviality. The severe majesty that seems
to preside as the genius of the place, proscribes
frivolity, and inspires loftiness of thought and
gravity of deportment. It imposes even on
scenes of relaxation a certain restraint, that
without infringing on the ease of conversation,
and the confidence of familiar intercourse, gives
a serious bias to the mind, and disposes it im-
perceptibly to reflection.*
But if in Rome, we seek in vain for the lighter
amusements, such as balls, routs, and operas;
we are supplied with other entertainments of a
much higher, and to a man of solid judgment,
* Il decoro is the word used at Rome to express this re-
straint so peculiar to the place; a word little used, as the
quality expressed by it is little known in other parts of
Italy. English is the only transalpine language, I believe,
that possesses the word, as indeed England is almost the
only country where its influence is much fell or acknow-
ledged.
2
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. V.
over not miles, but ages, and to have arrived at
a mansion where the agitations of the present are
absorbed in the contemplation of the past, and
the passions of this world are lost in the interests
of that which is to succeed it. Rome is not
therefore like Naples, the seat of mirth and dis-
sipation ; of public amusement, or even of pri-
vate conviviality. The severe majesty that seems
to preside as the genius of the place, proscribes
frivolity, and inspires loftiness of thought and
gravity of deportment. It imposes even on
scenes of relaxation a certain restraint, that
without infringing on the ease of conversation,
and the confidence of familiar intercourse, gives
a serious bias to the mind, and disposes it im-
perceptibly to reflection.*
But if in Rome, we seek in vain for the lighter
amusements, such as balls, routs, and operas;
we are supplied with other entertainments of a
much higher, and to a man of solid judgment,
* Il decoro is the word used at Rome to express this re-
straint so peculiar to the place; a word little used, as the
quality expressed by it is little known in other parts of
Italy. English is the only transalpine language, I believe,
that possesses the word, as indeed England is almost the
only country where its influence is much fell or acknow-
ledged.
2