Ἐν δὲ τῇ μεσογαίᾳ πρώτη μὲν ὑπὲρ τῶν Ὠστίων ἐστὶν ἡ Ῥώμη, καὶ μόνη γε ἐπὶ τῷ Τιβέρει κεῖται· περὶ ἧς ὅτι πρὸς ἀνάγκην οὐ πρὸς αἵρεσιν ἔκτισται εἴρηται· προσθετέον δʼ ὅτι οὐδʼ οἱ μετὰ ταῦτα προσκτίσαντές τινα μέρη κύριοι τοῦ βελτίονος ἦσαν, ἀλλʼ ἐδούλευον τοῖς προϋποκειμένοις. οἱ μέν γε πρῶτοι τὸ Καπιτώλιον καὶ τὸ Παλάτιον καὶ τὸν Κυρῖνον λόφον ἐτείχισαν, ὃς ἦν οὕτως εὐεπίβατος τοῖς ἔξωθεν ὥστʼ ἐξ ἐφόδου Τίτος Τάτιος εἷλεν ἐπελθών, ἡνίκα μετῄει τὴν τῶν ἁρπαγεισῶν παρθένων ὕβριν· Ἄγκος δὲ Μάρκιος προσλαβὼν τὸ Καίλιον ὄρος καὶ τὸ Ἀβεντῖνον ὄρος καὶ τὸ μεταξὺ τούτων πεδίον, διηρτημένα καὶ ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν προτετειχισμένων, προσέθηκεν ἀναγκαίως· οὔτε γὰρ οὕτως ἐρυμνοὺς λόφους ἔξω τείχους ἐᾶσαι τοῖς βουλομένοις ἐπιτειχίσματα καλῶς εἶχεν, οὔθʼ ὅλον ἐκπληρῶσαι τὸν κύκλον ἴσχυσε τὸν μέχρι τοῦ Κυρίνου. ἤλεγξε δὲ Σέρουιος τὴν ἔκλειψιν· ἀνεπλήρωσε γὰρ προσθεὶς τόν τε Ἠσκυλῖνον λόφον καὶ τὸν Ὀυιμίναλιν. καὶ ταῦτα δʼ εὐέφοδα τοῖς ἔξωθέν ἐστι· διόπερ τάφρον βαθεῖαν ὀρύξαντες εἰς τὸ ἐντὸς ἐδέξαντο τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἐξέτειναν ὅσον ἑξαστάδιον χῶμα ἐπὶ τῇ ἐντὸς ὀφρύι τῆς τάφρου, καὶ ἐπέβαλον τεῖχος καὶ πύργους ἀπὸ τῆς Κολλίνας πύλης μέχρι τῆς Ἠσκυλίνας. ὑπὸ μέσῳ δὲ τῷ χώματι τρίτη ἐστὶ πύλη ὁμώνυμος τῷ Ὀυιμινάλι λόφῳ. τὸ μὲν οὖν ἔρυμα τοιοῦτόν ἐστι τὸ τῆς πόλεως, ἐρυμάτων ἑτέρων δεόμενον. καί μοι δοκοῦσιν οἱ πρῶτοι τὸν αὐτὸν λαβεῖν διαλογισμὸν περί τε σφῶν αὐτῶν καὶ περὶ τῶν ὕστερον, διότι Ῥωμαίοις προσῆκεν οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐρυμάτων ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ τῶν ὅπλων καὶ τῆς οἰκείας ἀρετῆς ἔχειν τὴν ἀσφάλειαν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην εὐπορίαν, προβλήματα νομίζοντες οὐ τὰ τείχη τοῖς ἀνδράσιν ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἄνδρας τοῖς τείχεσι. κατʼ ἀρχὰς μὲν οὖν ἀλλοτρίας τῆς κύκλῳ χώρας οὔσης ἀγαθῆς τε καὶ πολλῆς, τοῦ δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἐδάφους εὐεπιχειρήτου, τὸ μακαρισθησόμενον οὐδὲν ἦν τοπικὸν εὐκλήρημα· τῇ δʼ ἀρετῇ καὶ τῷ πόνῳ τῆς χώρας οἰκείας γενομένης, ἐφάνη συνδρομή τις ἀγαθῶν ἅπασαν εὐφυΐαν ὑπερβάλλουσα, διʼ ἣν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον αὐξηθεῖσα ἡ πόλις ἀντέχει τοῦτο μὲν τροφῇ τοῦτο δὲ ξύλοις καὶ λίθοις πρὸς τὰς οἰκοδομίας, ἃς ἀδιαλείπτους ποιοῦσιν αἱ συμπτώσεις καὶ ἐμπρήσεις καὶ μεταπράσεις, ἀδιάλειπτοι καὶ αὗται οὖσαι· καὶ γὰρ αἱ μεταπράσεις ἑκούσιοί τινες συμπτώσεις εἰσί, καταβαλλόντων καὶ ἀνοικοδομούντων πρὸς τὰς ἐπιθυμίας ἕτερα ἐξ ἑτέρων. πρὸς ταῦτʼ οὖν τό τε τῶν μετάλλων πλῆθος καὶ ἡ ὕλη καὶ οἱ κατακομίζοντες ποταμοὶ θαυμαστὴν παρέχουσι τὴν ὑποχορηγίαν, πρῶτος μὲν Ἀνίων ἐξ Ἄλβας ῥέων τῆς πρὸς Μαρσοῖς Λατίνης πόλεως διὰ τοῦ ὑπʼ αὐτῇ πεδίου μέχρι τῆς πρὸς τὸν Τίβεριν συμβολῆς, ἔπειθʼ ὁ Νὰρ καὶ ὁ Τενέας οἱ διὰ τῆς Ὀμβρικῆς εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν καταφερόμενοι ποταμὸν τὸν Τίβεριν, διὰ δὲ Τυρρηνίας καὶ τῆς Κλουσίνης ὁ Κλάνις. ἐπεμελήθη μὲν οὖν ὁ Σεβαστὸς Καῖσαρ τῶν τοιούτων ἐλαττωμάτων τῆς πόλεως, πρὸς μὲν τὰς ἐμπρήσεις συντάξας στρατιωτικὸν ἐκ τῶν ἀπελευθεριωτῶν τὸ βοηθῆσον, πρὸς δὲ τὰς συμπτώσεις τὰ ὕψη τῶν καινῶν οἰκοδομημάτων καθελών, καὶ κωλύσας ἐξαίρειν ποδῶν ἑβδομήκοντα τὸ πρὸς ταῖς ὁδοῖς ταῖς δημοσίαις. ἀλλʼ ὅμως ἐπέλειπεν ἂν ἡ ἐπανόρθωσις, εἰ μὴ τὰ μέταλλα καὶ ἡ ὕλη καὶ τὸ τῆς πορθμείας εὐμεταχείριστον ἀντεῖχε.
In the interior, the first city above Ostia is Rome; it is the only city built on the Tiber. It has been remarked above, that its position was fixed, not by choice, but necessity; to this must be added, that those who afterwards enlarged it, were not at liberty to select a better site, being prevented by what was already built. The first [kings] fortified the Capitol, the Palatium, and the Collis Quirinalis, which was so easy of access, that when Titus Tatius came to avenge the rape of the [Sabine] virgins, he took it on the first assault. Ancus Marcius, who added Mount Caelius and the Aventine Mount with the intermediate plain, separated as these places were both from each other and from what had been formerly fortified, was compelled to do this of necessity; since he did not consider it proper to leave outside his walls, heights so well protected by nature, to whomsoever might have a mind to fortify themselves upon them, while at the same time he was not capable of enclosing the whole as far as Mount Quirinus. Servius perceived this defect, and added the Esquiline and Viminal hills. As these were both of easy access from without, a deep trench was dug outside them and the earth thrown up on the inside, thus forming a terrace of 6 stadia in length along the inner side of the trench. This terrace he surmounted with a wall flanked with towers, and extending from the Colline to the Esquiline gate. Midway along the terrace is a third gate, named after the Viminal hill. Such is the Roman rampart, which seems to stand in need of other ramparts itself. But it seems to me that the first [founders] were of opinion, both in regard to themselves and their successors, that Romans had to depend not on fortifications, but on arms and their individual valour, both for safety and for wealth, and that walls were not a defence to men, but men were a defence to walls. At the period of its commencement, when the large and fertile districts surrounding the city belonged to others, and while it lay easily open to assault, there was nothing in its position which could be looked upon as favourable; but when by valour and labour these districts became its own, there succeeded a tide of prosperity surpassing the advantages of every other place. Thus, notwithstanding the prodigious increase of the city, there has been plenty of food, and also of wood and stone for ceaseless building, rendered necessary by the falling down of houses, and on account of conflagrations, and of the sales, which seem never to cease. These sales are a kind of voluntary falling down of houses, each owner knocking down and rebuilding one part or another, according to his individual taste. For these purposes the numerous quarries, the forests, and the rivers which convey the materials, offer wonderful facilities. Of these rivers, the first is the Teverone, which flows from Alba, a city of the Latins near to the country of the Marsi, and from thence through the plain below this [city], till it unites with the Tiber. After this come the Nera and the Timia, which passing through Ombrica fall into the Tiber, and the Chiana, which flows through Tyrrhenia and the territory of Clusiumn. Augustus Caesar endeavoured to avert from the city damages of the kind alluded to, and instituted a company of freedmen, who should be ready to lend their assistance in cases of conflagration; whilst, as a preventive against the falling of houses, he decreed that all new buildings should not be carried so high as formerly, and that those erected along the public ways should not exceed seventy feet in height. But these improvements must have ceased only for the facilities afforded by the quarries, the forests, and the ease of transport.
ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἡ φύσις τῆς χώρας παρέχεται τὰ εὐτυχήματα τῇ πόλει, προσέθεσαν δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι καὶ τὰ ἐκ τῆς προνοίας. τῶν γὰρ Ἑλλήνων περὶ τὰς κτίσεις εὐστοχῆσαι μάλιστα δοξάντων, ὅτι κάλλους ἐστοχάζοντο καὶ ἐρυμνότητος καὶ λιμένων καὶ χώρας εὐφυοῦς, οὗτοι προὐνόησαν μάλιστα ὧν ὠλιγώρησαν ἐκεῖνοι, στρώσεως ὁδῶν καὶ ὑδάτων εἰσαγωγῆς καὶ ὑπονόμων τῶν δυναμένων ἐκκλύζειν τὰ λύματα τῆς πόλεως εἰς τὸν Τίβεριν. ἔστρωσαν δὲ καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὴν χώραν ὁδούς, προσθέντες ἐκκοπάς τε λόφων καὶ ἐγχώσεις κοιλάδων, ὥστε τὰς ἁρμαμάξας δέχεσθαι πορθμείων φορτία· οἱ δʼ ὑπόνομοι συννόμῳ λίθῳ κατακαμφθέντες ὁδοὺς ἁμάξαις χόρτου πορευτὰς ἐνίας ἀπολελοίπασι. τοσοῦτον δʼ ἐστὶ τὸ εἰσαγώγιμον ὕδωρ διὰ τῶν ὑδραγωγίων, ὥστε ποταμοὺς διὰ τῆς πόλεως καὶ τῶν ὑπονόμων ῥεῖν, ἅπασαν δὲ οἰκίαν σχεδὸν δεξαμενὰς καὶ σίφωνας καὶ κρουνοὺς ἔχειν ἀφθόνους, ὧν πλείστην ἐπιμέλειαν ἐποιήσατο Μάρκος Ἀγρίππας, πολλοῖς καὶ ἄλλοις ἀναθήμασι κοσμήσας τὴν πόλιν. ὡς δʼ εἰπεῖν, οἱ παλαιοὶ μὲν τοῦ κάλλους τῆς Ῥώμης ὠλιγώρουν, πρὸς ἄλλοις μείζοσι καὶ ἀναγκαιοτέροις ὄντες· οἱ δʼ ὕστερον καὶ μάλιστα οἱ νῦν καὶ καθʼ ἡμᾶς οὐδὲ τούτου καθυστέρησαν, ἀλλʼ ἀναθημάτων πολλῶν καὶ καλῶν ἐπλήρωσαν τὴν πόλιν. καὶ γὰρ Πομπήιος καὶ ὁ θεὸς Καῖσαρ καὶ ὁ Σεβαστὸς καὶ οἱ τούτου παῖδες καὶ οἱ φίλοι καὶ γυνὴ καὶ ἀδελφὴ πᾶσαν ὑπερεβάλοντο σπουδὴν καὶ δαπάνην εἰς τὰς κατασκευάς· τούτων δὲ τὰ πλεῖστα ὁ Μάρτιος ἔχει κάμπος πρὸς τῇ φύσει προσλαβὼν καὶ τὸν ἐκ τῆς προνοίας κόσμον. καὶ γὰρ τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ πεδίου θαυμαστὸν ἅμα καὶ τὰς ἁρματοδρομίας καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἱππασίαν ἀκώλυτον παρέχον τῷ τοσούτῳ πλήθει τῶν σφαίρᾳ καὶ κρίκῳ καὶ παλαίστρᾳ γυμναζομένων· καὶ τὰ περικείμενα ἔργα καὶ τὸ ἔδαφος ποάζον διʼ ἔτους καὶ τῶν λόφων στεφάναι τῶν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ποταμοῦ μέχρι τοῦ ῥείθρου σκηνογραφικὴν ὄψιν ἐπιδεικνύμεναι δυσαπάλλακτον παρέχουσι τὴν θέαν. πλησίον δʼ ἐστὶ τοῦ πεδίου τούτου καὶ ἄλλο πεδίον καὶ στοαὶ κύκλῳ παμπληθεῖς καὶ ἄλση καὶ θέατρα τρία καὶ ἀμφιθέατρον καὶ ναοὶ πολυτελεῖς καὶ συνεχεῖς ἀλλήλοις, ὡς πάρεργον ἂν δόξαιεν ἀποφαίνειν τὴν ἄλλην πόλιν. διόπερ ἱεροπρεπέστατον νομίσαντες τοῦτον τὸν τόπον καὶ τὰ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων μνήματα ἐνταῦθα κατεσκεύασαν ἀνδρῶν καὶ γυναικῶν. ἀξιολογώτατον δὲ τὸ Μαυσώλειον καλούμενον, ἐπὶ κρηπῖδος ὑψηλῆς λευκολίθου πρὸς τῷ ποταμῷ χῶμα μέγα, ἄχρι κορυφῆς τοῖς ἀειθαλέσι τῶν δένδρων συνηρεφές· ἐπʼ ἄκρῳ μὲν οὖν εἰκών ἐστι χαλκῆ τοῦ Σεβαστοῦ Καίσαρος, ὑπὸ δὲ τῷ χώματι θῆκαί εἰσιν αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν συγγενῶν καὶ οἰκείων, ὄπισθεν δὲ μέγα ἄλσος περιπάτους θαυμαστοὺς ἔχον· ἐν μέσῳ δὲ τῷ πεδίῳ ὁ τῆς καύστρας αὐτοῦ περίβολος καὶ οὗτος λίθου λευκοῦ, κύκλῳ μὲν περικείμενον ἔχων σιδηροῦν περίφραγμα, ἐντὸς δʼ αἰγείροις κατάφυτος. πάλιν δʼ εἴ τις εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν παρελθὼν τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἄλλην ἐξ ἄλλης ἴδοι παραβεβλημένην ταύτῃ καὶ βασιλικὰς στοὰς καὶ ναούς, ἴδοι δὲ καὶ τὸ Καπιτώλιον καὶ τὰ ἐνταῦθα ἔργα καὶ τὰ ἐν τῷ Παλατίῳ καὶ τῷ τῆς Λιβίας περιπάτῳ, ῥᾳδίως ἐκλάθοιτʼ ἂν τῶν ἔξωθεν. τοιαύτη μὲν ἡ Ῥώμη.
These advantages accrued to the city from the nature of the country; but the foresight of the Romans added others besides. The Grecian cities are thought to have flourished mainly on account of the felicitous choice made by their founders, in regard to the beauty and strength of their sites, their proximity to some port, and the fineness of the country. But the Roman prudence was more particularly employed on matters which had received but little attention from the Greeks, such as paving their roads, constructing aqueducts, and sewers, to convey the sewage of the city into the Tiber. In fact, they have paved the roads, cut through hills, and filled up valleys, so that the merchandise may be conveyed by carriage from the ports. The sewers, arched over with hewn stones, are large enough in some parts for waggons loaded with hay to pass through; while so plentiful is the supply of water from the aqueducts, that rivers may be said to flow through the city and the sewers, and almost every house is furnished with water-pipes and copious fountains. To effect which Marcus Agrippa directed his special attention; he likewise bestowed upon the city numerous ornaments. We may remark, that the ancients, occupied with greater and more necessary concerns, paid but little attention to the beautifying of Rome. But their successors, and especially those of our own day, without neglecting these things, have at the same time embellished the city with numerous and splendid objects. Pompey, divus Caesar, and Augustus, with his children, friends, wife, and sister, have surpassed all others in their zeal and munificence in these decorations. The greater number of these may be seen in the Campus Martius, which to the beauties of nature adds those of art. The size of the plain is marvellous, permitting chariot-races and other feats of horsemanship without impediment, and multitudes to exercise themselves at ball, in the circus and the paloestra. The structures which surround it, the turf covered with herbage all the year round, the summits of the hills beyond the Tiber, extending from its banks with panoramic effect, present a spectacle which the eye abandons with regret. Near to this plain is another surrounded with columns, sacred groves, three theatres, an amphitheatre, and superb temples in close contiguity to each other; and so magnificent, that it would seem idle to describe the rest of the city after it. For this cause the Romans, esteeming it as the most sacred place, have there erected funeral monuments to the most illustrious persons of either sex. The most remarkable of these is that designated as the Mausoleum, which consists of a mound of earth raised upon a high foundation of white marble, situated near the river, and covered to the top with ever-green shrubs. Upon the summit is a bronze statue of Augustus Caesar, and beneath the mound are the ashes of himself, his relatives, and friends. Behind is a large grove containing charming promenades. In the centre of the plain, is the spot where this prince was reduced to ashes; it is surrounded with a double enclosure, one of marble, the other of iron, and planted within with poplars. If from hence you proceed to visit the ancient forum, which is equally filled with basilicas, porticos, and temples, you will there behold the Capitol, the Palatium, with the noble works which adorn them, and the piazza of Livia, each successive place causing you speedily to forget what you have before seen. Such is Rome.
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