werful empire. Their greatness alone, or their beauty, might
deserve our attention: but they are rendered more interesting, by two
important circumstances, which connect the agreeable history of the arts
with the more useful history of human manners. Many of those works were
erected at private expense, and almost all were intended for public
benefit.

It is natural to suppose that the greatest number, as well as the most
considerable of the Roman edifices, were raised by the emperors, who
possessed so unbounded a command both of men and money. Augustus was
accustomed to boast that he had found his capital of brick, and that
he had left it of marble. [64] The strict economy of Vespasian was the
source of his magnificence. The works of Trajan bear the stamp of his
genius. The public monuments with which Hadrian adorned every province
of the empire, were executed not only by his orders, but under his
immediate inspection. He was himself an artist; and he loved the arts,
as they conduced to the glory of the monarch. They were encouraged by
the Antonines, as they contributed to the happiness of the people. But
if the emperors were the first, they were not the only architects
of their dominions. Their example was universally imitated by their
principal subjects, who were not afraid of declaring to the world that
they had spirit to conceive, and wealth to accomplish, the noblest
undertakings. Scarcely had the proud structure of the Coliseum been
dedicated at Rome, before the edifices, of a smaller scale indeed, but
of the same design and materials, were erected for the use, and at the
expense, of the cities of Capua and Verona. [65] The inscription of the
stupendous bridge of Alcantara attests that it was thrown over the Tagus
by the contribution of a few Lusitanian communities. When Pliny was
intrusted with the government of Bithynia and Pontus, provinces by
no means the richest or most considerable of the empire, he found the
cities within his jurisdiction striving with each other in every useful
and ornamental work, that might deserve the curiosity of strangers, or
the gratitude of their citizens. It was the duty of the proconsul to
supply their deficiencies, to direct their taste, and sometimes to
moderate their emulation. [66] The opulent senators of Rome and the
provinces esteemed it an honor, and almost an obligation, to adorn the
splendor of their age and country; and the influence of fashion very
frequently supplied t