Travels Through France And Italy by Tobias Smollett (fastest ebook reader .txt) 📕

With Thy Lov'd Corse The Fire Shall Now Consume.

Even Virgil Makes His Pious Hero Sacrifice Eight Italian Youths

To The Manes Of Pallas. It Is Not At All Clear To Me, That A

People Is The More Brave, The More They Are Accustomed To

Bloodshed In Their Public Entertainments. True Bravery Is Not

Savage But Humane. Some Of This Sanguinary Spirit Is Inherited By

The Inhabitants Of A Certain Island That Shall Be Nameless--But,

Mum For That. You Will Naturally Suppose That The Coliseo Was

Ruined By The Barbarians Who Sacked The City Of Rome: In Effect,

They Robbed It Of Its Ornaments And Valuable Materials; But It

Was Reserved For The Goths And Vandals Of Modern Rome, To

Dismantle The Edifice, And Reduce It To Its Present Ruinous

Condition. One Part Of It Was Demolished By Pope Paul Ii. That He

Might Employ The Stones Of It In Building The Palace Of St. Mark.

It Was Afterwards Dilapidated For The Same Purposes, By The

Cardinals Riarius And Farnese, Which Last Assumed The Tiara Under

The Name Of Paul Iii. Notwithstanding These Injuries, There Is

Enough Standing To Convey A Very Sublime Idea Of Ancient

Magnificence.

The Circi And Naumachia, If Considered As Buildings And

Artificial Basins, Are Admirable; But If Examined As Areae

Intended For Horse And Chariot Races, And Artificial Seas For

Exhibiting Naval Engagements, They Seem To Prove That The Antient

Romans Were But Indifferently Skilled And Exercised Either In

Horsemanship Or Naval Armaments. The Inclosure Of The Emperor

Caracalla's Circus Is Still Standing, And Scarce Affords 

Breathing Room For An English Hunter. The Circus Maximus, By Far

The Largest In Rome, Was Not So Long As The Mall; And I Will

Venture To Affirm, That St. James's Park Would Make A Much More

Ample And Convenient Scene For Those Diversions. I Imagine An Old

Roman Would Be Very Much Surprised To See An English Race On The

Course At New-Market. The Circus Maximus Was But Three Hundred

Yards In Breadth. A Good Part Of This Was Taken Up By The Spina,

Or Middle Space, Adorned With Temples, Statues, And Two Great

Obelisks; As Well As By The Euripus, Or Canal, Made By Order Of

Julius Caesar, To Contain Crocodiles, And Other Aquatic Animals,

Which Were Killed Occasionally. This Was So Large, That

Heliogabalus, Having Filled It With Excellent Wine, Exhibited

Naval Engagements In It, For The Amusement Of The People. It

Surrounded Three Sides Of The Square, So That The Whole Extent Of

The Race Did Not Much Exceed An English Mile; And When Probus Was

At The Expence Of Filling The Plain Of It With Fir-Trees To Form

A Wood For The Chace Of Wild Beasts, I Question Much If This

Forest Was More Extensive Than The Plantation In St. James's

Park, On The South Side Of The Canal: Now I Leave You To Judge

What Ridicule A King Of England Would Incur By Converting This

Part Of The Park Into A Chace For Any Species Of Animals Which

Are Counted Game In Our Country.

The Roman Emperors Seemed More Disposed To Elevate And Surprize,

Than To Conduct The Public Diversions According To The Rules Of

Reason And Propriety. One Would Imagine, It Was With This View

They Instituted Their Naumachia, Or Naval Engagements, Performed

By Half A Dozen Small Gallies Of A Side In An Artificial Basin Of

Fresh Water. These Gallies I Suppose Were Not So Large As Common

Fishing-Smacks, For They Were Moved By Two, Three, And Four Oars

Of A Side According To Their Different Rates, Biremes, Triremes,

And Quadriremes. I Know This Is A Knotty Point Not Yet

Determined; And That Some Antiquarians Believe The Roman Gallies

Had Different Tires Or Decks Of Oars; But This Is A Notion Very

Ill Supported, And Quite Contrary To All The Figures Of Them That

Are Preserved On Antient Coins And Medals. Suetonius In The Reign

Of Domitian, Speaking Of These Naumachia, Says, "Edidit Navales

Pugnas, Pene Justarum Classium, Effosso, Et Circumducto Juxta

Tyberim Lacu, Atque Inter Maximas Imbres Prospectavit," "He

Exhibited Naval Engagements Of Almost Intire Fleets, In An

Artificial Lake Formed For The Purpose Hard By The Tyber, And

Viewed Them In The Midst Of Excessive Rains." This Artificial

Lake Was Not Larger Than The Piece Of Water In Hyde-Park; And Yet

The Historian Says, It Was Almost Large Enough For Real Or Intire

Fleets. How Would A British Sailor Relish An Advertisement That A

Mock Engagement Between Two Squadrons Of Men Of War Would Be

Exhibited On Such A Day In The Serpentine River? Or That The

Ships Of The Line Taken From The Enemy Would Be Carried In

Procession From Hyde-Park-Corner To Tower-Wharf? Certain It Is,

Lucullus, In One Of His Triumphs, Had One Hundred And Ten Ships

Of War (Naves Longas) Carried Through The Streets Of Rome.

Nothing Can Give A More Contemptible Idea Of Their Naval Power, 

Than This Testimony Of Their Historians, Who Declare That Their

Seamen Or Mariners Were Formed By Exercising Small Row-Boats In

An Inclosed Pool Of Fresh Water. Had They Not The Sea Within A

Few Miles Of Them, And The River Tyber Running Through Their

Capital! Even This Would Have Been Much More Proper For

Exercising Their Watermen, Than A Pond Of Still-Water, Not Much

Larger Than A Cold-Bath. I Do Believe In My Conscience That Half

A Dozen English Frigates Would Have Been Able To Defeat Both The

Contending Fleets At The Famous Battle Of Actium, Which Has Been

So Much Celebrated In The Annals Of Antiquity, As An Event That

Decided The Fate Of Empire.

It Would Employ Me A Whole Month To Describe The Thermae Or

Baths, The Vast Ruins Of Which Are Still To Be Seen Within The

Walls Of Rome, Like The Remains Of So Many Separate Citadels. The

Thermae Dioclesianae Might Be Termed An August Academy For The

Use And Instruction Of The Roman People. The Pinacotheca Of This

Building Was A Complete Musaeum Of All The Curiosities Of Art And

Nature; And There Were Public Schools For All The Sciences. If I

May Judge By My Eye, However, The Thermae Antonianae Built By

Caracalla, Were Still More Extensive And Magnificent; They

Contained Cells Sufficient For Two Thousand Three Hundred Persons

To Bathe At One Time, Without Being Seen By One Another. They

Were Adorned With All The Charms Of Painting, Architecture, And

Sculpture. The Pipes For Convoying The Water Were Of Silver. Many

Of The Lavacra Were Of Precious Marble, Illuminated By Lamps Of

Chrystal. Among The Statues, Were Found The Famous Toro, And

Hercole Farnese.

Bathing Was Certainly Necessary To Health And Cleanliness In A

Hot Country Like Italy, Especially Before The Use Of Linen Was

Known: But These Purposes Would Have Been Much Better Answered By

Plunging Into The Tyber, Than By Using The Warm Bath In The

Thermae, Which Became Altogether A Point Of Luxury Borrowed From

The Effeminate Asiatics, And Tended To Debilitate The Fibres

Already Too Much Relaxed By The Heat Of The Climate. True It Is,

They Had Baths Of Cool Water For The Summer: But In General They

Used It Milk-Warm, And Often Perfumed: They Likewise Indulged In

Vapour-Baths, In Order To Enjoy A Pleasing Relaxation, Which They

Likewise Improved With Odoriferous Ointments.

The Thermae Consisted Of A Great Variety Of Parts And

Conveniences; The Natationes, Or Swimming Places; The Portici,

Where People Amused Themselves In Walking, Conversing, And

Disputing Together, As Cicero Says, In Porticibus Deambulantes

Disputabant; The Basilicae, Where The Bathers Assembled, Before

They Entered, And After They Came Out Of The Bath; The Atria, Or

Ample Courts, Adorned With Noble Colonnades Of Numidian Marble 

And Oriental Granite; The Ephibia, Where The Young Men Inured

Themselves To Wrestling And Other Exercises; The Frigidaria, Or

Places Kept Cool By A Constant Draught Of Air, Promoted By The

Disposition And Number Of The Windows; The Calidaria, Where The

Water Was Warmed For The Baths; The Platanones, Or Delightful

Groves Of Sycamore; The Stadia, For The Performances Of The

Athletae; The Exedrae, Or Resting-Places, Provided With Seats For

Those That Were Weary; The Palestrae, Where Every One Chose That

Exercise Which Pleased Him Best; The Gymnasia, Where Poets,

Orators, And Philosophers Recited Their Works, And Harangued For

Diversion; The Eleotesia, Where The Fragrant Oils And Ointments

Were Kept For The Use Of The Bathers; And The Conisteria, Where

The Wrestlers Were Smeared With Sand Before They Engaged. Of The

Thermae In Rome, Some Were Mercenary, And Some Opened Gratis.

Marcus Agrippa, When He Was Edile, Opened One Hundred And Seventy

Private Baths, For The Use Of The People. In The Public Baths,

Where Money Was Taken, Each Person Paid A Quadrans, About The

Value Of Our Halfpenny, As Juvenal Observes,

Caedere Sylvano Porcum, Quadrante Lavari.

The Victim Pig To God Sylvanus Slay,

And For The Public Bath A Farthing Pay.

But After The Hour Of Bathing Was Past, It Sometimes Cost A Great

Deal More, According To Martial,

Balnea Post Decimam, Lasso Centumque Petuntur

Quadrantes--

The Bathing Hour Is Past, The Waiter Tir'd;

An Hundred Farthings Now Will Be Requir'd.

Though There Was No Distinction In The Places Between The First

Patrician And The Lowest Plebeian, Yet The Nobility Used Their

Own Silver And Gold Plate, For Washing, Eating, And Drinking In

The Bath, Together With Towels Of The Finest Linen. They Likewise

Made Use Of The Instrument Called Strigil, Which Was A Kind Of

Flesh-Brush; A Custom To Which Persius Alludes In This Line,

I Puer, Et Strigiles Crispini Ad Balnea Defer.

Here, Boy, This Brush To Crispin's Bagnio Bear.

The Common People Contented