230
COLUMN AND FOEUM OF TEAJAN.
the foot of the Capitoline ; and, in order to obtain a level for
the new forum, a large portion of the hill was taken down, a
height of more than 140 feet, as is suggested by the inscription
on the pedestal of Trajan’s column, though I am not sure that
I remember the exact number of feet? The forum of Trajan
was not, like the Forum Bomanum, an open space, but like
that of Augustus, a place where government offices and other
public buildings were erected. These buildings, which are well
known, comprised all the offices for the finances, formed, as it
were, quite a new town of palaces, in the centre of which rose
the column, which is surrounded by a spiral bas-relief of ex-
cellent workmanship, representing the events of Trajan’s two
wars against the Dacians. These bas-reliefs have suffered much
from lightning, fire, and the hand of man ; but they yet shew
that, in the time of Trajan, the art of making reliefs was in a
state of high perfection; and all the figures are exquisitely
beautiful. The sculptures are important also in an antiqua-
rian point of view, as they represent various kinds of armour,
costumes, buildings, and other things which we should be al-
together ignorant of, were it is not for these bas-reliefs. Inside
of it there is a spiral staircase leading to the top, and under the
column the ashes of the emperor were deposited in a vault.
It was originally surmounted by a colossal bronze statue of
Trajan, but this was taken down in barbarous times, and pope
Sixtus V. erected in its place a statue of St. Peter, which still
stands on the column. The railings which run round the top
of it are modern, but the pillar is otherwise free from restora-
tion. Near it were two enormous buildings, great parts of
which have been laid open by the clearings which were un-
dertaken by the French. They are constructed in the form
of basilicae; we cannot, however, say whether they belonged
to the Forum Ulpium or not. Their splendour is indescribable ;
among other things they contain ground floors of square slabs
of the most beautiful Numidian marble. The Forum Ulpium
was also adorned at two entrances with two triumphal arches
surmounted by quadrigae, as we know only from coins. It may
be that Constantine despoiled one of these arches, and used
portions of it as ornaments for his own arch.
4 195 palms, according to Platner in Bunsen’s Beschreib. d. Stadt Rom. iii. 1.
p.289. Ten palms are equal to 99 Parisian lines. Compare, however, Platner
and Urlichs, Beschreibung Roms. p. 24, foil.
DECAY OF ART AFTER TRAJAN —LITERATURE. 231
These and. many other works shew the extremely flourishing
condition of the arts at that time. They soon sank, however;
for, although Hadrian erected great and costly buildings, such
as the temple of Venus and Eoma, he was a man without taste
and followed his own caprices.5 We have ruins of buildings
erected under Antoninus Pius which are far less beautiful, and
in the reign of M. Aurelius, the only branch of statuary which
continued to flourish was the art of making bronze statues. The
bronze statue of that emperor is excellent ; the sculptures in
marble on the arch of M. Aurelius, are not to be compared
with those executed under Trajan. The ornaments on the
triumphal arch of Severus are an example of the dreadful
decay of the arts, though the statues of Severus are not quite
so bad.6 The Septizonium of that emperor was a colossal but
tasteless building. There are people who charge the Christian
religion with having destroyed ancient art ; but the charge is
utterly groundless, for ancient art had perished before Christi-
anity was introduced.
The age of Trajan was equally great in literature. The first
man we meet with is Tacitus. He stands quite alone, and
belongs to no school; he is one of those mighty minds who
exercise a great influence upon their age without being the
creatures of it; for, though even the mightiest minds experi-
ence the influence of their age, which determines their course,
and gives them opportunities for the display of their faculties,
still it does not create them. It is in vain that we ask, who
were his teachers? They may have been quite insignificant
men, the school in which he was trained was the deep grief
produced by the oppression of the times. His great soul was
seized with grief in the reign of Domitian ; and he recovered
from it in the refreshing period of Nerva and Trajan. I, for
my part, am convinced whatever people may urge against it,
that the first edition of his life of Agricola was published in
the latter part of Domitian’s reign. I collect this from its
5 Dion Cass. Ixix. 4.
6 Modern art fell off in a similar manner during the seventeenth century, if
we compare the productions of that time with the Dutch paintings of the iiι 4
half of the sixteenth century. Drawing was not neglected, for good drawings
were produced even in the eighteenth century, the period of the greatest barba-
rism in painting. In the time of Severus, however, drawing, too, sank quite as
low as sculpture, and even the proportions were forgotten. — N.