he was encompassed by the glittering arms of the numerous
squadrons of his guards and cuirassiers. Their streaming banners of
silk, embossed with gold, and shaped in the form of dragons, waved
round the person of the emperor. Constantius sat alone in a lofty car,
resplendent with gold and precious gems; and, except when he bowed
his head to pass under the gates of the cities, he affected a stately
demeanor of inflexible, and, as it might seem, of insensible gravity.
The severe discipline of the Persian youth had been introduced by the
eunuchs into the Imperial palace; and such were the habits of patience
which they had inculcated, that during a slow and sultry march, he was
never seen to move his hand towards his face, or to turn his eyes either
to the right or to the left. He was received by the magistrates and
senate of Rome; and the emperor surveyed, with attention, the civil
honors of the republic, and the consular images of the noble families.
The streets were lined with an innumerable multitude. Their repeated
acclamations expressed their joy at beholding, after an absence of
thirty-two years, the sacred person of their sovereign, and Constantius
himself expressed, with some pleasantry, he affected surprise that the
human race should thus suddenly be collected on the same spot. The son
of Constantine was lodged in the ancient palace of Augustus: he presided
in the senate, harangued the people from the tribunal which Cicero had
so often ascended, assisted with unusual courtesy at the games of the
Circus, and accepted the crowns of gold, as well as the Panegyrics which
had been prepared for the ceremony by the deputies of the principal
cities. His short visit of thirty days was employed in viewing the
monuments of art and power which were scattered over the seven hills and
the interjacent valleys. He admired the awful majesty of the Capitol,
the vast extent of the baths of Caracalla and Diocletian, the severe
simplicity of the Pantheon, the massy greatness of the amphitheatre of
Titus, the elegant architecture of the theatre of Pompey and the Temple
of Peace, and, above all, the stately structure of the Forum and column
of Trajan; acknowledging that the voice of fame, so prone to invent
and to magnify, had made an inadequate report of the metropolis of the
world. The traveller, who has contemplated the ruins of ancient Rome,
may conceive some imperfect idea of the sentiments which they must
have inspired when they rea