Then He Consecrated An Altar On The
Place, Where Afterwards The Church Was Built.
You may guess
what I felt at first sight of the city of Rome, which,
notwithstanding all the calamities it has undergone, still
maintains an august and imperial appearance.
It stands on
the farther side of the Tyber, which we crossed at the Ponte
Molle, formerly called Pons Milvius, about two miles from the
gate by which we entered. This bridge was built by Aemilius
Censor, whose name it originally bore. It was the road by which
so many heroes returned with conquest to their country; by which
so many kings were led captive to Rome; and by which the
ambassadors of so many kingdoms and states approached the seat of
empire, to deprecate the wrath, to sollicit the friendship, or
sue for the protection of the Roman people. It is likewise famous
for the defeat and death of Maxentius, who was here overcome by
Constantine the Great. The space between the bridge and Porta del
Popolo, on the right-hand, which is now taken up with gardens and
villas, was part of the antient Campus Martius, where the
comitiae were held; and where the Roman people inured themselves
to all manner of exercises: it was adorned with porticos,
temples, theatres, baths, circi, basilicae, obelisks, columns,
statues, and groves. Authors differ in their opinions about the
extent of it; but as they all agree that it contained the
Pantheon, the Circus Agonis, now the Piazza Navona, the Bustum
and Mausoleum Augusti, great part of the modern city must be
built upon the ancient Campus Martius. The highway that leads
from the bridge to the city, is part of the Via Flaminia, which
extended as far as Rimini; and is well paved, like a modern
street. Nothing of the antient bridge remains but the piles; nor
is there any thing in the structure of this, or of the other five
Roman bridges over the Tyber, that deserves attention. I have not
seen any bridge in France or Italy, comparable to that of
Westminster either in beauty, magnificence, or solidity; and when
the bridge at Black-Friars is finished, it will be such a
monument of architecture as all the world cannot parallel. As for
the Tyber, it is, in comparison with the Thames, no more than an
inconsiderable stream, foul, deep, and rapid. It is navigable by
small boats, barks, and lighters; and, for the conveniency of
loading and unloading them, there is a handsome quay by the new
custom-house, at the Porto di Ripetta, provided with stairs of
each side, and adorned with an elegant fountain, that yields
abundance of excellent water.
We are told that the bed of this river has been considerably
raised by the rubbish of old Rome, and this is the reason usually
given for its being so apt to overflow its banks. A citizen of
Rome told me, that a friend of his lately digging to lay the
foundation of a new house in the lower part of the city, near the
bank of the river, discovered the pavement of an antient street,
at the depth of thirty-nine feet from the present surface of the
earth.
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