pplied
perpetual fuel for the flames; and when they ceased, four only of the
fourteen regions were left entire; three were totally destroyed, and
seven were deformed by the relics of smoking and lacerated edifices. In
the full meridian of empire, the metropolis arose with fresh beauty from
her ashes; yet the memory of the old deplored the irreparable losses,
the arts of Greece, the trophies of victory, the monuments of primitive
or fabulous antiquity. In the days of distress and anarchy every wound
is mortal, every fall irretrievable; nor can the damage be restored
either by the public care of government or the activity of private
interest. Yet two causes may be alleged, which render the calamity of
fire more destructive to a flourishing than a decayed city. 1. The more
combustible materials of brick, timber, and metals are first melted and
consumed, but the flames may play without injury or effect on the naked
walls and massy arches that have been despoiled of their ornaments. 2.
It is among the common and plebeian habitations that a mischievous spark
is most easily blown to a conflagration; but as soon as they are
devoured, the greater edifices which have resisted or escaped are left
as so many islands in a state of solitude and safety. From her
situation, Rome is exposed to the danger of frequent inundations.
Without excepting the Tiber, the rivers that descend from either side of
the Apennine have a short and irregular course; a shallow stream in the
summer heats; an impetuous torrent when it is swelled in the spring or
winter by the fall of rain and the melting of the snows. When the
current is repelled from the sea by adverse winds, when the ordinary bed
is inadequate to the weight of waters, they rise above the banks and
overspread without limits or control the plains and cities of the
adjacent country. Soon after the triumph of the first Punic War, the
Tiber was increased by unusual rains; and the inundation, surpassing all
former measure of time and place, destroyed all the buildings that were
situate below the hills of Rome. According to the variety of ground, the
same mischief was produced by different means; and the edifices were
either swept away by the sudden impulse, or dissolved and undermined by
the long continuance of the flood. Under the reign of Augustus the same
calamity was renewed: the lawless river overturned the palaces and
temples on its banks; and after the labors of the Emperor in cleansing
an