The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
By Edward Gibbon
CHAPTER LXXI
Part III. The use and abuse of the materials..
          
          The value  of  any  object  that  supplies the wants or
          pleasures of mankind  is compounded of its substance and its
          form, of the  materials and the manufacture.  Its price must
          depend on the  number  of persons by whom it may be acquired
          and used; on  the  extent of the market; and consequently on
          the ease or  difficulty  of remote exportation, according to
          the nature of  the  commodity,  its local situation, and the
          temporary  circumstances  of   the   world.   The  Barbarian
          conquerors of Rome usurped in a moment the toil and treasure
          of successive ages;  but,  except  the luxuries of immediate
          consumption, they must  view  without  desire all that could
          not be removed  from  the  city  in the Gothic wagons or the
          fleet of the  Vandals.(27) Gold  and silver were the first
          objects of their  avarice;  as  in every country, and in the
          smallest compass, they  represent  the most ample command of
          the industry and  possessions of mankind. A vase or a statue
          of those precious  metals  might  tempt  the  vanity of some
          Barbarian chief; but  the  grosser  multitude, regardless of
          the form, was  tenacious  only  of  the  substance;  and the
          melted ingots might  be readily divided and stamped into the
          current  coin of  the  empire.   The  less  active  or  less
          fortunate robbers were  reduced  to  the  baser  plunder  of
          brass, lead, iron,  and  copper:  whatever  had  escaped the
          Goths and Vandals was pillaged by the Greek tyrants; and the
          emperor  Constans, in  his  rapacious  visit,  stripped  the
          bronze tiles from the roof of the Pantheon.(28) The edifices
          of Rome might  be considered as a vast and various mine; the
          first  labor  of   extracting   the  materials  was  already
          performed; the metals  were  purified  and cast; the marbles
          were hewn and  polished;  and  after  foreign  and  domestic
          rapine had been  satiated,  the remains of the city, could a
          purchaser have been  found, were still venal.  The monuments
          of  antiquity  had   been   left  naked  of  their  precious
          ornaments; but the  Romans  would  demolish  with  their own
          hands the arches  and  walls,  if  the  hope of profit could
          surpass  the  cost   of   the  labor  and  exportation.   If
          Charlemagne had fixed  in  Italy  the  seat  of  the Western
          empire, his genius  would  have  aspired  to restore, rather
          than to violate,  the  works  of  the  Caesars;  but  policy
          confined the French  monarch  to the forests of Germany; his
          taste could be  gratified  only  by destruction; and the new
          palace of Aix  la Chapelle was decorated with the marbles of
          Ravenna  (29)  and   Rome.(30)  Five  hundred  years  after
          Charlemagne, a king  of  Sicily, Robert, the wisest and most
          liberal sovereign of  the  age,  was  supplied with the same
          materials by the  easy  navigation of the Tyber and the sea;
          and Petrarch sighs  an indignant complaint, that the ancient
          capital of the  world  should  adorn from her own bowels the
          slothful luxury of Naples.(31) But these examples of plunder
          or purchase were  rare  in  the darker ages; and the Romans,
          alone and unenvied,  might  have applied to their private or
          public use the  remaining  structures  of  antiquity,  if in
          their present form  and  situation they had not been useless
          in a great  measure  to  the  city and its inhabitants.  The
          walls still described  the  old  circumference, but the city
          had descended from  the seven hills into the Campus Martius;
          and some of  the  noblest  monuments  which  had  braved the
          injuries of time  were left in a desert, far remote from the
          habitations of mankind.  The palaces of the senators were no
          longer adapted to  the manners or fortunes of their indigent
          successors: the use of baths (32) and porticos was forgotten:
          in  the  sixth   century,   the   games   of   the  theatre,
          amphitheatre, and circus, had been interrupted: some temples
          were devoted to  the  prevailing  worship; but the Christian
          churches  preferred  the  holy  figure  of  the  cross;  and
          fashion, or reason,  had  distributed after a peculiar model
          the  cells  and   offices   of   the  cloister.   Under  the
          ecclesiastical reign, the  number of these pious foundations
          was enormously multiplied;  and  the  city  was crowded with
          forty  monasteries  of  men,  twenty  of  women,  and  sixty
          chapters  and  colleges  of  canons  and  priests,(33)  who
          aggravated, instead of  relieving,  the  depopulation of the
          tenth century.  But  if  the  forms  of ancient architecture
          were disregarded by  a  people  insensible  of their use and
          beauty, the plentiful  materials  were applied to every call
          of necessity or  superstition;  till  the fairest columns of
          the Ionic and  Corinthian  orders,  the  richest  marbles of
          Paros and Numidia,  were degraded, perhaps to the support of
          a convent or a stable.  The daily havoc which is perpetrated
          by the Turks  in  the cities of Greece and Asia may afford a
          melancholy example; and  in  the  gradual destruction of the
          monuments of Rome, Sixtus the Fifth may alone be excused for
          employing the stones  of  the  Septizonium  in  the glorious
          edifice of St.  Peter's.(34)  A fragment, a ruin, howsoever
          mangled or profaned, may be viewed with pleasure and regret;
          but  the  greater   part  of  the  marble  was  deprived  of
          substance, as well  as of place and proportion; it was burnt
          to lime for  the  purpose of cement. Since the arrival of
          Poggius,  the  temple  of  Concord, (35)  and  many  capital
          structures, had vanished  from  his  eyes; and an epigram of
          the same age  expresses  a  just  and  pious  fear, that the
          continuance of this  practice  would  finally annihilate all
          the monuments of  antiquity. (36)  The  smallness  of  their
          numbers was the  sole  check on the demands and depredations
          of the Romans.  The imagination of Petrarch might create the
          presence of a  mighty people;(37) and I hesitate to believe,
          that, even in  the fourteenth century, they could be reduced
          to a contemptible list of thirty-three thousand inhabitants.
          From that period  to  the  reign  of  Leo the Tenth, if they
          multiplied to the  amount  of  eighty-five thousand,(38) the
          increase of citizens  was  in  some degree pernicious to the
          ancient city.
 

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