Altera Gramineo Spectabis Equiriacampo
Quem Tiberis Curvis In Latus Urget Aquis,
Qui Tamen Ejecta Si Forte Tenebitur Unda,
Coelius Accipiet Pulverulentus Equos.
Another race thy view shall entertain
Where bending Tiber skirts the grassy plain;
Or should his vagrant stream that plain o'erflow,
The Caelian hill the dusty course will show.
The Porta del Popolo (formerly, Flaminia,) by which we entered
Rome, is an elegant piece of architecture, adorned with marble
columns and statues, executed after the design of Buonaroti.
Within-side you find yourself in a noble piazza, from whence
three of the principal streets of Rome are detached. It is
adorned with the famous Aegyptian obelisk, brought hither from
the Circus Maximus, and set up by the architect Dominico Fontana
in the pontificate of Sixtus V. Here is likewise a beautiful
fountain designed by the same artist; and at the beginning of the
two principal streets, are two very elegant churches fronting
each other. Such an august entrance cannot fail to impress a
stranger with a sublime idea of this venerable city.
Having given our names at the gate, we repaired to the dogana, or
custom-house, where our trunks and carriage were searched; and
here we were surrounded by a number of servitori de piazza,
offering their services with the most disagreeable importunity.
Though I told them several times I had no occasion for any, three
of them took possession of the coach, one mounting before and two
of them behind; and thus we proceeded to the Piazza d'Espagna,
where the person lived to whose house I was directed.
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