red their heads in the splendor of unsullied
beauty.

[See The Pantheon: The severe simplicity of the Pantheon]

[Footnote 41: For the particulars of the visit of Constantius to Rome,
see Ammianus, l. xvi. c. 10. We have only to add, that Themistius was
appointed deputy from Constantinople, and that he composed his fourth
oration for his ceremony.]

The satisfaction which Constantius had received from this journey
excited him to the generous emulation of bestowing on the Romans some
memorial of his own gratitude and munificence. His first idea was to
imitate the equestrian and colossal statue which he had seen in the
Forum of Trajan; but when he had maturely weighed the difficulties of
the execution, [42] he chose rather to embellish the capital by the gift
of an Egyptian obelisk. In a remote but polished age, which seems to
have preceded the invention of alphabetical writing, a great number of
these obelisks had been erected, in the cities of Thebes and Heliopolis,
by the ancient sovereigns of Egypt, in a just confidence that the
simplicity of their form, and the hardness of their substance, would
resist the injuries of time and violence. [43] Several of these
extraordinary columns had been transported to Rome by Augustus and his
successors, as the most durable monuments of their power and victory;
[44] but there remained one obelisk, which, from its size or sanctity,
escaped for a long time the rapacious vanity of the conquerors. It was
designed by Constantine to adorn his new city; [45] and, after being
removed by his order from the pedestal where it stood before the Temple
of the Sun at Heliopolis, was floated down the Nile to Alexandria. The
death of Constantine suspended the execution of his purpose, and this
obelisk was destined by his son to the ancient capital of the empire.
A vessel of uncommon strength and capaciousness was provided to convey
this enormous weight of granite, at least a hundred and fifteen feet in
length, from the banks of the Nile to those of the Tyber. The obelisk of
Constantius was landed about three miles from the city, and elevated, by
the efforts of art and labor, in the great Circus of Rome. [46] [46a]

[Footnote 42: Hormisdas, a fugitive prince of Persia, observed to the
emperor, that if he made such a horse, he must think of preparing a
similar stable, (the Forum of Trajan.) Another saying of Hormisdas is
recorded, "that one thing only had displeased him, to find that men died
at