DOI chapter:
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 Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62268#0176
166
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. V.
The modern capitals of Europe, and indeed
most ancient cities, derived their fame from one,
or precaution; and in a warm country, stagnant waters and
swampy grounds, the unavoidable effects of inundations, emit
vapors that never fail to produce infection. So violent was
the pestilence, that in a procession in which the Pontiff
marched at the head of the people, he had the mortification
to see seventy of his flock fall down and expire in his pre-
sence.
To alleviate these calamities, was the occupation of Gre-
gory, and in the discharge of this melancholy duty, he could
have had little time and little inclination to indulge himself in
the pleasures of literary pursuits. To which we may add, that
such researches are the amusements of leisure and prosperity,
when the mind, free from external pressure and distraction, can
expatiate at ease over the regions of fancy and invention, and
cull their flowers without fear or interruption. But in the
fall of empires, when misery besets every door, and death
stares every man in the face, it is timely and natural to turn
to objects of greater importance, and while the fashion of
this worldpasseth away, to fix the thoughts and affections on
more substantial and more permanent acquirements.
But with all these disadvantages Gregory possessed talents
and accomplishments that would have entitled him to consi-
deration, even in more refined ages ; and whoever peruses
his epistles, will acknowledge that he was not deficient
either in imagination or in judgment, and still less in the no-
bler qualities of a benevolent and lofty mind. His style,
though deeply tinged with 'the increasing barbarism of the
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. V.
The modern capitals of Europe, and indeed
most ancient cities, derived their fame from one,
or precaution; and in a warm country, stagnant waters and
swampy grounds, the unavoidable effects of inundations, emit
vapors that never fail to produce infection. So violent was
the pestilence, that in a procession in which the Pontiff
marched at the head of the people, he had the mortification
to see seventy of his flock fall down and expire in his pre-
sence.
To alleviate these calamities, was the occupation of Gre-
gory, and in the discharge of this melancholy duty, he could
have had little time and little inclination to indulge himself in
the pleasures of literary pursuits. To which we may add, that
such researches are the amusements of leisure and prosperity,
when the mind, free from external pressure and distraction, can
expatiate at ease over the regions of fancy and invention, and
cull their flowers without fear or interruption. But in the
fall of empires, when misery besets every door, and death
stares every man in the face, it is timely and natural to turn
to objects of greater importance, and while the fashion of
this worldpasseth away, to fix the thoughts and affections on
more substantial and more permanent acquirements.
But with all these disadvantages Gregory possessed talents
and accomplishments that would have entitled him to consi-
deration, even in more refined ages ; and whoever peruses
his epistles, will acknowledge that he was not deficient
either in imagination or in judgment, and still less in the no-
bler qualities of a benevolent and lofty mind. His style,
though deeply tinged with 'the increasing barbarism of the