These Particulars Might Be
Executed At No Very Great Expence; But, I Apprehend, They Would
Be Ineffectual, As The Town Is Commanded By Every Hill In The
Neighbourhood; And The Exhalations From Stagnating Sea-Water
Would Infallibly Render The Air Unwholesome.
Notwithstanding the
undoubted antiquity of Nice, very few monuments of that antiquity
now remain.
The inhabitants say, they were either destroyed by
the Saracens in their successive descents upon the coast, by the
barbarous nations in their repeated incursions, or used in
fortifying the castle, as well as in building other edifices. The
city of Cemenelion, however, was subject to the same disasters,
and even entirely ruined, nevertheless, we still find remains of
its antient splendor. There have been likewise a few stones found
at Nice, with antient inscriptions; but there is nothing of this
kind standing, unless we give the name of antiquity to a marble
cross on the road to Provence, about half a mile from the city.
It stands upon a pretty high pedestal with steps, under a pretty
stone cupola or dome, supported by four Ionic pillars, on the
spot where Charles V. emperor of Germany, Francis I. of France,
and pope Paul II. agreed to have a conference, in order to
determine all their disputes. The emperor came hither by sea,
with a powerful fleet, and the French king by land, at the head
of a numerous army. All the endeavours of his holiness, however,
could not effect a peace; but they agreed to a truce of ten
years. Mezerai affirms, that these two great princes never saw
one another on this occasion; and that this shyness was owing to
the management of the pope, whose private designs might have been
frustrated, had they come to a personal interview. In the front
of the colonade, there is a small stone, with an inscription in
Latin, which is so high, and so much defaced, that I cannot read
it.
In the sixteenth century there was a college erected at Nice, by
Emanuel Philibert, duke of Savoy, for granting degrees to
students of law; and in the year one thousand six hundred and
fourteen, Charles Emanuel I. instituted the senate of Nice;
consisting of a president, and a certain number of senators, who
are distinguished by their purple robes, and other ensigns of
authority. They administer justice, having the power of life and
death, not only through the whole county of Nice, but causes are
evoked from Oneglia, and some other places, to their tribunal,
which is the dernier ressort, from whence there is no appeal. The
commandant, however, by virtue of his military power and
unrestricted authority, takes upon him to punish individuals by
imprisonment, corporal pains, and banishment, without consulting
the senate, or indeed, observing any form of trial. The only
redress against any unjust exercise of this absolute power, is by
complaint to the king; and you know, what chance a poor man has
for being redressed in this manner.
With respect to religion, I may safely say, that here
superstition reigns under the darkest shades of ignorance and
prejudice.
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