It is amazing, that the successive irruptions of barbarous
nations, of Goths, Vandals, and Moors; of fanatic croisards,
still more sanguinary and illiberal than those Barbarians, should
have spared this temple, as well as two other still more noble
monuments of architecture, that to this day adorn the city of
Nismes:
I mean the amphitheatre and the edifice, called Maison
Carree - The former of these is counted the finest monument of the
kind, now extant; and was built in the reign of Antoninus Pius,
who contributed a large sum of money towards its erection. It is
of an oval figure, one thousand and eighty feet in circumference,
capacious enough to hold twenty thousand spectators. The
architecture is of the Tuscan order, sixty feet high, composed of
two open galleries, built one over another, consisting each of
threescore arcades. The entrance into the arena was by four great
gates, with porticos; and the seats, of which there were thirty,
rising one above another, consisted of great blocks of stone,
many of which still remain. Over the north gate, appear two
bulls, in alto-relievo, extremely well executed, emblems which,
according to the custom of the Romans, signified that the
amphitheatre was erected at the expence of the people. There are
in other parts of it some work in bas-relief, and heads or busts
but indifferently carved. It stands in the lower part of the
town, and strikes the spectator with awe and veneration. The
external architecture is almost intire in its whole circuit; but
the arena is filled up with houses - This amphitheatre was
fortified as a citadel by the Visigoths, in the beginning of the
sixth century. They raised within it a castle, two towers of
which are still extant; and they surrounded it with a broad and
deep fossee, which was filled up in the thirteenth century. In
all the subsequent wars to which this city was exposed, it served
as the last resort of the citizens, and sustained a great number
of successive attacks; so that its preservation is almost
miraculous. 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. The proportions of the building are so happily
united, as to give it an air of majesty and grandeur, which the
most indifferent spectator cannot behold without emotion. A man
needs not be a connoisseur in architecture, to enjoy these
beauties. They are indeed so exquisite that you may return to
them every day with a fresh appetite for seven years together.
What renders them the more curious, they are still entire, and
very little affected, either by the ravages of time, or the havoc
of war. Cardinal Alberoni declared, that it was a jewel that
deserved a cover of gold to preserve it from external injuries.
An Italian painter, perceiving a small part of the roof repaired
by modern French masonry, tore his hair, and exclaimed in a rage,
"Zounds! what do I see? harlequin's hat on the head of Augustus!"
Without all doubt it is ravishingly beautiful. The whole world
cannot parallel it; and I am astonished to see it standing
entire, like the effects of inchantment, after such a succession
of ages, every one more barbarous than another. The history of
the antiquities of Nismes takes notice of a grotesque statue,
representing two female bodies and legs, united under the head of
an old man; but, as it does not inform us where it is kept, I did
not see it.
The whole country of Languedoc is shaded with olive trees, the
fruit of which begins to ripen, and appears as black as sloes;
those they pickle are pulled green, and steeped for some time in
a lye made of quick lime or wood ashes, which extracts the bitter
taste, and makes the fruit tender. Without this preparation it is
not eatable. Under the olive and fig trees, they plant corn and
vines, so that there is not an inch of ground unlaboured: but
here are no open fields, meadows, or cattle to be seen. The
ground is overloaded; and the produce of it crowded to such a
degree, as to have a bad effect upon the eye, impressing the
traveller with the ideas of indigence and rapacity. The heat in
summer is so excessive, that cattle would find no green forage,
every blade of grass being parched up and destroyed. The weather
was extremely hot when we entered Montpellier, and put up at the
Cheval Blanc, counted the best auberge in the place, tho' in fact
it is a most wretched hovel, the habitation of darkness, dirt,
and imposition.
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