slope,--cross the valley of the Circus Maximus,--and
you begin to climb the PALATINE hill, the most famous of the seven. The
Palatine stands forward from the circular line, and is divided from
where you stand only by the little plain of the Forum. It was the seat
of the first Roman colony; and when Rome grew into an empire, the palace
of the Caesars rose upon it, and the Palatine was henceforward the abode
of the world's master. The site is nearly in the middle of ancient Rome,
and commands a fine view of the other hills, the Capitol only
overtopping it. The imperial palace which rose on its summit must have
been a conspicuous as well as imposing object from every part of the
city. Three thousand columns are said to have adorned an edifice, the
saloons, libraries, baths, and porticos of which, the wealth and art of
ancient Rome had done their utmost to make worthy of their imperial
occupant. A dark night has overwhelmed the glory that once irradiated
this mount. It is now a huge mountain of crumbling brickwork, bearing on
its broad level top a luxuriant display of cabbages and vines, amid
which rise the humble walls of a convent, and a small but tasteful
villa, which is owned, strange to say, by an Englishman. The proprietor
of the villa and the little colony of monks are now the only inhabitants
of the Palatine. In walking over it, you stumble upon blocks of marble,
remains of terraces, vaults still retaining their frescoes, arches,
porticos, and vast substructions of brickwork, all crushed and blended
into one common ruin. In these halls power dwelt and crime revelled: now
the owl nestles in their twilight vaults, and the ivy mantles their
crumbling ruins. The western side of this mound rises steep and lofty,
crested with a row of noble cypress trees. They are tall and upright,
and wear in the mind's eye a shadowy shroud of gloom, looking like
mourners standing awed and grief-stricken beside the grave of the
Caesars. When the twilight falls and the stars come out, their dark
moveless figures, relieved against the sky, present a sight peculiarly
impressive and solemn.

The general aspect and condition of the Palatine have been sketched by
Byron with his usual power:--

"Cypress and ivy, weed and wallflower, grown,
Matted and massed together, hillocks heaped
On what were chambers, arch crushed, column strown
In fragments, choked up vaults, and frescoes steeped
In subterranean damps, where the owl peeped,
Deemin