assembled;
and it is on the site of this temple that a multitude of antiques
have been dug up. See notes of Reimar on Dion Cassius, lxvi. c. 15, p.
1083.--W.]

[Footnote 73: Montfaucon l'Antiquite Expliquee, tom. iv. p. 2, l. i.
c. 9. Fabretti has composed a very learned treatise on the aqueducts of
Rome.]

We have computed the inhabitants, and contemplated the public works,
of the Roman empire. The observation of the number and greatness of its
cities will serve to confirm the former, and to multiply the latter. It
may not be unpleasing to collect a few scattered instances relative
to that subject without forgetting, however, that from the vanity of
nations and the poverty of language, the vague appellation of city has
been indifferently bestowed on Rome and upon Laurentum.

I. Ancient Italy is said to have contained eleven hundred and
ninety-seven cities; and for whatsoever aera of antiquity the expression
might be intended, [74] there is not any reason to believe the country
less populous in the age of the Antonines, than in that of Romulus.
The petty states of Latium were contained within the metropolis of the
empire, by whose superior influence they had been attracted. [741] Those
parts of Italy which have so long languished under the lazy tyranny
of priests and viceroys, had been afflicted only by the more tolerable
calamities of war; and the first symptoms of decay which they
experienced, were amply compensated by the rapid improvements of the
Cisalpine Gaul. The splendor of Verona may be traced in its remains: yet
Verona was less celebrated than Aquileia or Padua, Milan or Ravenna. II.
The spirit of improvement had passed the Alps, and been felt even in the
woods of Britain, which were gradually cleared away to open a free space
for convenient and elegant habitations. York was the seat of government;
London was already enriched by commerce; and Bath was celebrated for the
salutary effects of its medicinal waters. Gaul could boast of her twelve
hundred cities; [75] and though, in the northern parts, many of them,
without excepting Paris itself, were little more than the rude and
imperfect townships of a rising people, the southern provinces imitated
the wealth and elegance of Italy. [76] Many were the cities of Gaul,
Marseilles, Arles, Nismes, Narbonne, Thoulouse, Bourdeaux, Autun,
Vienna, Lyons, Langres, and Treves, whose ancient condition might
sustain an equal, and perhaps advantageous comparison with thei