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CHAP. 3. Delphini (Gentilis) Diarium Romanum (A. D. 1370LXX. 1410), in the Rerum Italicarum, tom. iii. P. ii. P. 846.

4. Antonii (Petri) Diarium Rom. (A. D. 1404-1417), tom. xxiv. p. 969.

.

5. Petroni (Pauli) Miscellanea Historica Romana (A. D. 1433-1446), tom. xxiv. p. 1101.

6. Volaterrani (Jacob.) Diarium Rom. A. D. 1472—1484), tom. xxiii. p. 81.

7. Anonymi Diarium Urbis Romæ (A. D. 1481–1492), tom. iii. p. ii. p. 1069.

8. Infessura (Stephani) Diarium Romanum (A. D. 1294, or 1378-1494), tom. iii. p. ii. p. 1109.

9. Historia Arcana Alexandri VI. sive Excerpta ex Diario Joh. Burcardi (A. D. 1492—1503), edita a Godefr. Gulielm. Leibnizio, Hanover, 1697, in 4to. The large and vaJuable Journal of Burcard might be completed from the MS. in different libraries of Italy and France, (M. de Foncemagne, in the Memoires de l'Acad, des Inscrip. tom, xvii, P. 597-606.

Except the last, all these fragments and diaries are inserted in the Collections of Muratori, my guide and master in the history of Italy. His country and the public are indebted to him for the following works on that subject: 1. Rerum Italicarum Scriptores (A. D. 500-1500), quorum potissima pars nune primum in lucem prodit, &c. 28 vols. in folio, Milan, 17231738. 1751. A volume of chronological and alphabetical tables is still wanting as a key to this great work, which is yet in a disorderly and defective state. 2. Antiquitates Italia medi Evi, 6 vols. in folio, Milan, 1738-1743, in 75 curious dissertations on the manners, government, religion, &c. of the Italians of the darker ages, with a large supplement of charters, chronicles, &c. 3. Dissertioni sopra le Antiquita Italiane, 3 vols. in 4to, Milano, 1751, a free version by the author, which may be quoted with the same confidence as the Latin text of the Antiquities. 4. Annali d'Italia, 18 vols. in octavo, Milan, 1753-1756, a dry, though accurate and useful abridgement of the history of Italy, from the birth of Christ to the middle of the 18th century. 5. Dell' Antichita Estensee et Italiane, 2 vols in folio, Modena, 1717, 1740. In the history of this illustrious race, the parent of our Brunswick kings, the critic is not seduced by the loyalty or gratitude of the subject. In all his works, Muratori proves himself a diligent and laborious writer, who aspires above the prejudices of a Catholic priest. He was born in the year 1672, and died in the year 1750, after passing near sixty years in the libraries of Milan and Modena, (Vita del Proposto Ludovico Antonio Muratori, by his nephew and successor, Gian. Francesco Soli Muratori, Venezia, 1756, in 4to).

CHAP.

CHAP. LXXI.

Prospect of the Ruins of Rome in the Fifteenth Century.
-Four Causes of Decay and Destruction.-Ex-
ample of the Coliseum.-Renovation of the City.—
Conclusion of the whole Work.

I IN

N the last days of Pope Eugenius the Fourth, CHAP. two of his servants, the learned Poggius

* and

LXXI.

discourse

from the Capitoline

A. D.

1430.

a friend, ascended the Capitoline hill; reposed View and themselves among the ruins of columns and temples; of Poggius and viewed, from that commanding spot, the wide and various prospect of desolationt. The place and hill, the object gave ample scope for moralising on the vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man, nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave; and it was agreed, that in proportion to her former greatness, the fall of Rome was the more awful and deplorable. "Her primæval state, such as she might appear in "a remote age, when Evander entertained the stranger of Troy ||, has been delineated by the "fancy

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I have already (not. 50. 51. on chap. 65.) mentioned the age, character, and writings of Poggius; and particularly noticed the date of this elegant moral lecture on the varieties of fortune.

+ Consedimus in ipsis Tarpeiæ arcis ruinis, pone ingens portæ cujusdam, ut puto, templi, marmoreum limen, plurimasque passim confractas columnas, unde magnâ ex parte prospectus urbis patet, p. 5.).

‡ Æneid, viii. 97-369. This ancient picture, so artfully introduced, and so exquisitely finished, must have been highly

interesting

С НА Р.
LXXI.

"fancy of Virgil. This Tarpeian rock was then a 66 savage and solitary thicket. In the time of the

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poet, it was crowned with the golden roofs of a temple; the temple is overthrown, the gold has "been pillaged, the wheel of fortune has accom

66

66

plished her revolution, and the sacred ground is "again disfigured with thorns and brambles. The "hill of the Capitol, on which we sit, was formerly "the head of the Roman empire, the citadel of "the earth, the terror of kings; illustrated by the footsteps of so many triumphs, enriched with the "spoils and tributes of so many nations. This 66 spectacle of the world, how is it fallen! how changed! how defaced! The path of victory is "obliterated by vines, and the benches of the sena"tors are concealed by a dunghill. Cast your

66

66

eyes on the Palatine hill, and seek among the "shapeless and enormous fragments, the marble "theatre, the obelisks, the colossal statues, the "porticoes of Nero's palace; survey the other "hills of the city, the vacant space is interrupted "only by ruins and gardens. The forum of the "Roman people, where they assembled to enact "their laws, and elect their magistrates, is now "inclosed for the cultivation of pot-herbs, or "thrown open for the reception of swine and buf"faloes. The public and private edifices, that "were founded for eternity, lie prostrate, naked, " and broken, like the limbs of a mighty giant; "and the ruin is the more visible, from the stu "pendous

interesting to an inhabitant of Rome; and our early studies allow us to sympathise in the feelings of a Roman.

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pendous relics that have survived the injuries of CHAP. "time and fortune *."

LXXI.

scription

ruins.

These relics are minutely described by Poggius, His deone of the first who raised his eyes from the monu- of the ments of legendary, to those of classic, superstition t. 1. Besides a bridge, an arch, a sepulchre, and the pyramid of Cestius, he could discern, of the age of the republic, a double row of vaults in the salt-office of the Capitol, which were inscribed with the name and munificence of Catulus. 2. Eleven temples were visible in some degree, from the perfect form of the Pantheon, to the three arches and a marble column of the temple of peace, which Vespasian erected after the civil wars and the Jewish triumph. 3. Of the number, which he rashly defines, of seven therma, or public baths, none were sufficiently entire to represent the use and distribution of the several parts; but those of Diocletian and Antonius Caracalla still retained the titles of the founders, and astonished the curious spectator, who, in observing their solidity and extent, the variety of marbles, the size and multitude of the columns, compared the labour and expence, with the use and importance. Of the baths of Constantine, of Alexander, of Domitian, or rather of Titus, some vestige might yet be found. 4. The triumphal arches of Titus, Severus, and Constantine, were entire, both the structure and

the

* Capitolium adeo. . . . immutatum ut vineæ in senatorum subseliia successerint, stercorum ac purgamentorum receptaculum factum. Respice ad Palatinum montem vasta rudera . . . . cæteros colles perlustra omnia vacua ædificiis, ruinis vinesque oppleta conspicies, (Poggius de Varietat. Fortunæ, p. 21.).

See Pogg'us, p. 8-22.

LXXI.

CHAP. the inscriptions; a falling fragment was honoured with the name of Trajan; and two arches, then extant in the Flaminian way, have been ascribed to the baser memory of Faustina and Gallienus. 5. After the wonder of the Coliseum, Poggius might have overlooked a small amphitheatre of brick, most probably for the use of the prætorian camp. The theatres of Marcellus and Pompey were occupied, in a great measure, by public and private buildings; and in the circus, Agonalis and Maximus, little more than the situation and the form could be investigated. 6. The columns of Trajan and Antonine were still erect; but the Egyptian obelisks were broken or buried. A people of gods and heroes, the workmanship of art, was reduced to one equestrian figure of gilt brass, and to five marble statues, of which the most conspicuous were the two horses of Phidias and Praxiteles. 7. The two mausoleums or sepulchres of Augustus and Hadrian could not totally be lost; but the former was only visible as a mound of earth; and the latter, the castle of St Angelo, had acquired the name and appearance of a modern fortress. With the addition of some separate and nameless columns, such were the remains of the ancient city; for the marks of a more recent structure might be detected in the walls, which formed a circumference of ten miles, included three hundred and seventy-nine turrets, and opened into the country by thirteen gates.

Gradual decay of Rome.

This melancholy picture was drawn above nine. hundred years after the fall of the Western empire, and even of the Gothic kingdom of Italy. A long

period

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