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.
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