DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18096#0104
62
Roman Africa
said Pliny, ' are being built on marshy ground, and the walls
are already cracked. The gymnasium is not only of irregular
shape, but it is badly planned. The present architect, who is a
rival of the one first engaged on the work, tells me that the
foundations, which are twenty feet thick and loosely built, are
unequal to support the superstructure. Send me some archi-
tects from Italy to advise me in the matter, which is urgent.'
Trajan's reply was very brief. ' As to architects,' said the
Emperor, ' there is no province which has not trained men of
skill and ingenuity to do what you require. Such experts are
not produced in Italy. We have several in Rome, but they
come to us from Greece.' 1
The confidence inspired by the just and beneficent rule of
Trajan soon spread to the more distant parts of the Empire.
The magic of his name, associated with unbounded success as a
warrior, checked the turbulent tribes on the frontiers of his
African provinces ; and the native races subject to the will of
Rome were left to cultivate their fields in peace, or change a
nomadic life for one of settlement in towns and villages.
o
Public works were in progress everywhere, roads were multiplied
or repaired, and harbours constructed or enlarged. With the
aid of the renowned Apollodorus of Damascus, the great
architect of his time, rivers were spanned by stately bridges far
exceeding in magnificence anything the world had ever seen ;
triumphal arches—tributes of gratitude to a wise and thoughtful
Emperor—graced the entry of provincial towns ; and temples
and theatres, baths and aqueducts, rose, as if by magic, to do
honour to the Emperor in his lifetime. But the name of Trajan,
as a patron of architecture and a man of princely tastes, will
for ever be associated with the great forum at Rome which
bears his name, and with the stately column which has happilv
defied the ravages of time. When the Emperor Constantius II.
made his triumphal entry into Rome A.D. 356, he stood amazed
at the beauty and grandeur of the forum, with its splendid
embellishments in marble and stone. In despair of ever
doing anything that would rival such magnificence, he said, as
he turned away, that he would be content to match the horse
which figured in the equestrian statue of Trajan. ' You can
1 This letter of Trajan's testifies to the widespread influence of Hellenic art, and
the indebtedness of the Roman world to the more cultured Greek.
Roman Africa
said Pliny, ' are being built on marshy ground, and the walls
are already cracked. The gymnasium is not only of irregular
shape, but it is badly planned. The present architect, who is a
rival of the one first engaged on the work, tells me that the
foundations, which are twenty feet thick and loosely built, are
unequal to support the superstructure. Send me some archi-
tects from Italy to advise me in the matter, which is urgent.'
Trajan's reply was very brief. ' As to architects,' said the
Emperor, ' there is no province which has not trained men of
skill and ingenuity to do what you require. Such experts are
not produced in Italy. We have several in Rome, but they
come to us from Greece.' 1
The confidence inspired by the just and beneficent rule of
Trajan soon spread to the more distant parts of the Empire.
The magic of his name, associated with unbounded success as a
warrior, checked the turbulent tribes on the frontiers of his
African provinces ; and the native races subject to the will of
Rome were left to cultivate their fields in peace, or change a
nomadic life for one of settlement in towns and villages.
o
Public works were in progress everywhere, roads were multiplied
or repaired, and harbours constructed or enlarged. With the
aid of the renowned Apollodorus of Damascus, the great
architect of his time, rivers were spanned by stately bridges far
exceeding in magnificence anything the world had ever seen ;
triumphal arches—tributes of gratitude to a wise and thoughtful
Emperor—graced the entry of provincial towns ; and temples
and theatres, baths and aqueducts, rose, as if by magic, to do
honour to the Emperor in his lifetime. But the name of Trajan,
as a patron of architecture and a man of princely tastes, will
for ever be associated with the great forum at Rome which
bears his name, and with the stately column which has happilv
defied the ravages of time. When the Emperor Constantius II.
made his triumphal entry into Rome A.D. 356, he stood amazed
at the beauty and grandeur of the forum, with its splendid
embellishments in marble and stone. In despair of ever
doing anything that would rival such magnificence, he said, as
he turned away, that he would be content to match the horse
which figured in the equestrian statue of Trajan. ' You can
1 This letter of Trajan's testifies to the widespread influence of Hellenic art, and
the indebtedness of the Roman world to the more cultured Greek.