, the greatest of all, no town-planning can be detected. Like
Athens and Sparta, Rome shows that conservatism which marks so many
capital cities. No part of it, so far as we know, was laid out on a
rectangular or indeed on any plan.[67] It grew as it could. Its
builders, above all its imperial builders, cared much for spectacular
effects and architectural pomp. Even in late Republican times the
gloomy mass of the Tabularium and the temples of the Capitol must have
towered above the Forum in no mere accidental stateliness, and
imperial Rome contained many buildings in many quarters to show that
it was the capital of an Empire. But for town-planning we must go
elsewhere.

[67] The traces of prehistoric planning detected by some writers
in Rome are very dubious.

The sources of our knowledge are twofold. In a few cases
archaeological excavation has laid bare the paving of Roman streets or
the foundation of Roman house-blocks. More often mediaeval and modern
streets seem to follow ancient lines and the ancient town-plan, or a
part of it, survives in use to-day. Such survivals are especially
common in the north of Italy. It is not, indeed, possible to gather a
full list of them. He who would do that needs a longer series of good
town-maps and good local histories than exist at present; he needs,
too, a wider knowledge of mediaeval Italian history and a closer
personal acquaintance with modern Italian towns, than a classical
scholar can attempt. But much can be learnt even from our limited
material.[68]

[68] See the seventeenth century Atlases of Blaeu, Janssons, and
others, the modern maps prepared by Grassellini and others about
1840-50 (some on the scale 1:4,000), and in particular the
_Atlante geografico_ of Attilio Zuccagni-Orlandini (Firenze,
1844), and the recent town-maps of various Italian cities (mostly
about 1:10,500). Different maps of the same town sometimes differ
much in their detail. The Italian Government maps of the largest
scale (1:25,000) are small for our present purpose and have been
issued mainly for northern Italy.

The evidence of the streets needs, however, to be checked in every
case. It would be rash to assume a Roman origin for an Italian town
simply because its streets are old and their plan rectangular. There
are many rectangular towns of mediaeval or modern origin. Such is
Terra Nova, near the ancient Gela in Sicily, built by Frederick Stupor
M