It Is Likely, However, To Suffer Much More From The
Gothic Avarice Of Its Own Citizens, Some Of Whom Are Mutilating
It Every Day, For The Sake Of The Stones, Which They Employ In
Their Own Private Buildings.
It is surprizing, that the King's
authority has not been exerted to put an end to such sacrilegious
violation.
If the amphitheatre strikes you with an idea of greatness, the
Maison Carree enchants you with the most exquisite beauties of
architecture and sculpture. This is an edifice, supposed formerly
to have been erected by Adrian, who actually built a basilica in
this city, though no vestiges of it remain: but the following
inscription, which was discovered on the front of it, plainly
proves, that it was built by the inhabitants of Nismes, in honour
of Caius and Lucius Caesar, the grandchildren of Augustus by his
daughter Julia, the wife of Agrippa.
C. CAESARI. AVGVSTI. F. COS.
L CAESARI. AVGMI. F. COS.
DESIGNATO.
PRINCIPIBVS IVVENTUTIS.
To Caius and Lucius Caesar, sons of Augustus, consuls elect,
Princes of the Roman youth.
This beautiful edifice, which stands upon a pediment six feet
high, is eighty-two feet long, thirty-five broad, and thirty-seven
high, without reckoning the pediment. The body of it is
adorned with twenty columns engaged in the wall, and the
peristyle, which is open, with ten detached pillars that support
the entablature. They are all of the Corinthian order, fluted and
embellished with capitals of the most exquisite sculpture, the
frize and cornice are much admired, and the foliage is esteemed
inimitable.
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