But the principal monument here, is an amphitheatre, the external
portico of which is tolerably complete. How many porticoes there were,
cannot be seen; but at one of the principal gates there are still five,
measuring, from out to in, seventy-eight feet, ten inches, the vault
diminishing inwards. There are sixty-four arches, each of which is, from
centre to centre, twenty feet, six inches. Of course, the diameter is of
four hundred and thirty-eight feet; or of four hundred and fifty feet,
if we suppose the four principal arches a little larger than the rest.
The ground floor is supported on innumerable vaults. The first story,
externally, has a tall pedestal, like a pilaster, between every two
arches; the upper story, a column, the base of which would indicate it
Corinthian. Every column is truncated as low as the impost of the arch,
but the arches are all entire. The whole of the upper entablature is
gone, and of the Attic, if there was one. Not a single seat of the
internal is visible. The whole of the inside, and nearly the whole
of the outside, is masked by buildings.
Pages:
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278