The destruction of ancient Rome : a sketch of the history of the monuments . vel of the City, at least of the outly-ing districts. After the removal of the imperial court toByzantium, the municipal regulations requiring the re-moval of the City refuse to a safe distance apparentlyfell into abeyance; and all sorts of material seem tohave been heaped up against the walls. Stilicho hadneither time nor means to cart away the bank of debris,which certainly diminished his chances of a success-ful defence; so he contented himself with levelling itoff and spreading it over the adjoining land. In402, t
The destruction of ancient Rome : a sketch of the history of the monuments . vel of the City, at least of the outly-ing districts. After the removal of the imperial court toByzantium, the municipal regulations requiring the re-moval of the City refuse to a safe distance apparentlyfell into abeyance; and all sorts of material seem tohave been heaped up against the walls. Stilicho hadneither time nor means to cart away the bank of debris,which certainly diminished his chances of a success-ful defence; so he contented himself with levelling itoff and spreading it over the adjoining land. In402, therefore, the level of imperial Rome on the 1 C. I. L. VI. 1188-1190. 54 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME line of the walls was raised at once by ten or twelvefeet. The best evidence of this fact is to be found at thePorta Ostiensis, now Porta di S. Paolo, close to the pyra-mid of Cestius (Fig. 13). The threshold of the gateof 402 is about twelve feet higher than the base of thepyramid and the threshold of the gate of 272. Again,the arch of Augustus on the Via Tiburtina, which. ;| • t(L>..r a-D. Aai Gat«- 1 of : Honaruu .ty _ il •( I i-evel of v(\ 04^^i a. X> aii Gate of AwTtlijvn Fig. 13. — The raising of level at the Porta Ostiensis, 402. The Pyramidof Cestius is shown at the left. formed the Tiburtine gate of 272, is ten or twelve feetlower than the gate of 402.^ The same observationapplies to the Porta Flaminia, Porta Praenestina, PortaPortuensis, and Porta Septimiana. The Porta Appiaseems to have been rebuilt with materials taken fromthe beautiful temple of Mars outside the walls, withoutany change of level. In only one part of the wallshave I found traces of a lowering of the soil below the 1 See the illustration in JRuins and Excavations^ p. 76. BEGINNING OF THE FIFTH CENTURY 55 level of the classical period. This single exception isat the northeast corner of the Praetorian camp. The gates of Honorius have been ruthlessly treatedin modern times. Sixtus
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