dings, and the other ornaments, whether made before or from spoils,
are excellently wrought, knows also that the works which were made to
fill up by the sculptors of that time are of the rudest, as also are
certain small groups with little figures in marble below the medallions,
and the lowest base wherein there are certain victories, and certain
rivers between the arches at the sides, which are very rude and so made
that it can be believed most surely that by that time the art of
sculpture had begun to lose something of the good. And there had not yet
come the Goths and the other barbarous and outlandish peoples who
destroyed, together with Italy, all the finer arts. It is true, indeed,
that in the said times architecture had suffered less harm than the
other arts of design had suffered, for in the bath that Constantine
erected on the Lateran, in the entrance of the principal porch it may be
seen, to say nothing of the porphyry columns, the capitals wrought in
marble, and the double bases taken from some other place and very well
carved, that the whole composition of the building is very well
conceived; whereas, on the contrary, the stucco, the mosaics, and
certain incrustations on the walls made by masters of that time are not
equal to those that he caused to be placed in the same bath, which were
taken for the most part from the temples of the heathen gods.
Constantine, so it is said, did the same in the garden of AEquitius, in
making the temple which he afterwards endowed and gave to the Christian
priests. In like manner, the magnificent Church of S. Giovanni Laterano,
erected by the same Emperor, can bear witness to the same--namely, that
in his day sculpture had already greatly declined; for the image of the
Saviour and the twelve Apostles in silver that he caused to be made were
very debased sculptures, wrought without art and with very little
design. Besides this, whosoever examines with diligence the medals of
Constantine and his image and other statues made by the sculptors of
that time, which are at the present day in the Campidoglio, may see
clearly that they are very far removed from the perfection of the medals
and statues of the other Emperors; and all this shows that long before
the coming of the Goths into Italy sculpture had greatly declined.

Architecture, as has been said, continued to maintain itself, if not so
perfect, in a better state; nor is there reason to marvel at this,
seeing that, as the gre