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#0173
Ch. V.
THROUGH ITALY.
163
Strabo who had traversed Greece in every direc-
tion, and was without doubt intimately acquaint-
ed with all the beauties of his country, and like
every other Greek* *, not a little partial to its
claims to pre-eminence, describes the magnifi-
cence of Rome as an object of transcendent glory,
that surpassed expectation, and rose far above all
human competition.
If Greeks, so jealous of the arts and edifices
of their native land ; if Emperors of the East,
who idolized their own capital, and looked with
envy on the ornaments of the ancient City, were
thus obliged to pay an involuntary tribute to its
superior beauty, we may pardon the well founded
enthusiasm of the Romans themselves, w'hen they
represent it as an epitome of the universe, and an
abode worthy of the godsf. And indeed, if Vir-
gil, at a time when Augustus had only begun his
projected improvements, and the architectural
and asked where such another horse could be found ? when
a Persian Prince who accompanied him, answered, “ Sup-
posing we find such a horse, who will build him such an-
other stable ?”
* Graeci genus in gloriam suatn effusissimum. Plin.
f Pliny 36.
M 2
THROUGH ITALY.
163
Strabo who had traversed Greece in every direc-
tion, and was without doubt intimately acquaint-
ed with all the beauties of his country, and like
every other Greek* *, not a little partial to its
claims to pre-eminence, describes the magnifi-
cence of Rome as an object of transcendent glory,
that surpassed expectation, and rose far above all
human competition.
If Greeks, so jealous of the arts and edifices
of their native land ; if Emperors of the East,
who idolized their own capital, and looked with
envy on the ornaments of the ancient City, were
thus obliged to pay an involuntary tribute to its
superior beauty, we may pardon the well founded
enthusiasm of the Romans themselves, w'hen they
represent it as an epitome of the universe, and an
abode worthy of the godsf. And indeed, if Vir-
gil, at a time when Augustus had only begun his
projected improvements, and the architectural
and asked where such another horse could be found ? when
a Persian Prince who accompanied him, answered, “ Sup-
posing we find such a horse, who will build him such an-
other stable ?”
* Graeci genus in gloriam suatn effusissimum. Plin.
f Pliny 36.
M 2