Pantheon to make "the instruments of war" for defending the improved fortress. "Yea, doubtless," says the Jesuit Donatus, "bees not only make honey, but are also armed with stings for the battle; like those which from their lofty station have showered down upon the people the liquid sweetness of urbane wisdom, but may also, by their steady valour, strike terror into those who vex them." It is when we are gone out of the Porta Angelica, and about the P. Castello, that we shall estimate the extent and strength of the fort S. Angelo. Here, too, we may begin our circuit of the Trastevere walls, if we desire to become well acquainted with the form and mould of the ecclesiastical city. In this delightful excursion we shall often linger to admire the varied landscapes which occur at every angle of the walls; we shall remark the different works, repairs, and inscriptions * of the popes, and especially the fine remains of the city of Leo IV. Nor will it be uninteresting to have traced the topography of the Janiculum, from Ancus Martius to Urban VIII. In the vineyard opposite to the closed Porta Castello, some vestiges of a circus were discovered in 1743. 142 We may even recognise now some slight indications of it in the inequalities of the ground. This was not a new discovery; for the old antiquaries positively mention remains of a circus 143 in this * See Note KK. 142 See Nolli's great plan of Rome, and Venuti, tom. ii. p. 198. 143 " Fra il Vaticano et il Tevere si veggono i vestigii e l'antiche rovine d'un circo, et altri dicono d'uno Hippodromo." Camucci, in fine. place, which they saw. Biondo had nearly disconcerted all, by making it the Circus of Nero. 144 There is no mention of such an edifice in any ancient writer except Procopius, who points out in this direction a stadium, in which he is pleased to say gladiators in old time exhibited. 145 Common conjecture has assigned it to Hadrian; and as Hadrian's Circus it is usually marked upon plans of Rome; but without some fresh discovery, which may yet remain to be made by some excavator, the whole must stand in the list of uncertainties. From the tower of the Campidoglio 146 we endeavoured to trace the triumph descending from the "Clivus Cinnæ" into the Campus Martius; and now, beginning our excursion up to that mount from the Porta Angelica, we shall soon fall in with some traces of the "Via Triumphalis." In continuing to ascend, the field of our antiquarian researches gradually unfolds its rich and varied aspect; and when arrived at the church of the Rosario, we shall willingly stay to contemplate for a while the magnificence of Rome. But the whole is not fully developed until we arrive at the Villa Melini: from that proud station is an extensive view of the city and Campagna, such as no human eye can behold without emotion; and we may perhaps be allowed to look down into the valley through which the Tyber laves its way, with some degree of compla " Non molto lontano dalla predetta Mole Adriana, vi si vede la forma di un piccolo cerchio di pietra negra et dura, già quasi rovinato et da pochi conosciuto." - Andrea Fulvio, carta 156. 144 Roma Restaurata, lib. i. sect. 46. 145 De Bell. Gothico, lib. ii. cap. 1. 146 See Dissertation II. p. 72. cency. The various objects which recall the glories of the past, and kindle the memory of classic days, have been the subject of our researches; and no one can deprive us of the intellectual delight we now enjoy of viewing those well known scenes from this Mount of Triumph. Such is a portion of the reward we have to offer to those who diligently accompany us to the top of the Monte Mario. This is evidently the spot which Martial celebrates, in one of his best epigrams, as where the villa and gardens of his uncle Julius stood; and as nothing we can say would be so classically descriptive, this dissertation shall be concluded with a translation of the epigram ON THE VILLA OF JULIUS MARTIAL. The acres few of Julius Martial lie The knolls o'erlooked are by solitudes; The waggoner his team drives on 'Tis seen not heard, no rattling wheel And yet the Milvian bridge so near ! 278 DISSERTATION THE TWELFTH. ON THE WALLS AND AQUEDUCTS, WITH SOME REMARKS ON THE MAGNITUDE OF ANCIENT ROME, AND THE IMPORTANT CHANGES OF THE CITY. " Vieni a veder la tua Roma che piagne Cesare mio, perchè non m' accompagne?" DANTE, Purgatorio, canto vi. Ir scarcely comes within the province of the historian to record those minute but interesting details by which we may best judge of the wealth and population of a metropolis; nor yet to enumerate the streets and buildings, which must change with each successive generation. Cities generally increase in magnitude and convenience at those peaceable and monotonous periods which afford the least materials for history; and the brilliant achievements or the striking adversities of a people, the splendid vices or virtues of a court, are generally the subjects of the historian's praise or censure. We cannot, therefore, wonder, if at this distance we are so imperfectly informed upon the subject of the population and extent of ancient Rome; for so little have these statistical accounts to do with what is called the history of a people, and often so difficult to be obtained, that, even at this period of unlimited intercourse, we are almost ignorant of |