=246. Commanding View from the Palatine Hill.=--This is the smallest of the Seven Hills, but it is the real focus of the other six, which “seem to surround it with their homage, as being their king.” It is so close to the Capitol that the crazy Caligula erected a bridge (now long demolished) leading from his mansion clear over to the Temple of Capitoline Jove, in order that he might frequently “go and visit his friend Jupiter.” The view from the crest of the palace structures is superb: northward across the Forum, and all the thickly clustered roofs on the slopes of the Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline, westward to the Capitol where the magnificent temples seem within a stone’s toss, southward across the great hollow of the Circus Maximus and then across to the densely covered Aventine. Whether the Emperor desires to harangue the Senate, to sacrifice to the greater gods, or to grace the chariot races--Curia, temples, or circus are all close at hand; with the Flavian Amphitheater to the northeast, almost equally near. =247. Magnificence of the Palatine Structures.=--But the Palatine itself is perhaps the most glorious sight of all. It rises above the city two and three hundred feet to its upper parapets, lifting itself on several tiers of arches and pillared stories which gleam with marble below and present a perfect treasure house of gilded tiling above. Under the morning light with the sun flashing the gold of the multitudinous domes back into the clear azure the whole effect is incomparable. The natural foundations of the hill are covered with enormous substructures of masonry and concrete, and these are continued by long tiers of many-arched buildings which house the great government bureaus and ministries. Crowning these can be seen equally long forests of columns, upbearing a whole complex of gabled roofs covered not merely with the gilded tiles, but with a whole legion of gilded or richly toned bronze statues. Here and there show forth bits of greenery and foliage betraying the gardens and the parks reserved for the Lords of the World. [Illustration: PALATINE AND PALACE OF THE CAESARS: restoration by Spandoni.] The effect of this entire mass is overpowering. The eye wearies of counting the sweeping porticoes, tall monoliths, colossal statues, and quadrigas. The result is also enhanced by the use of great numbers of huge awnings, hung over nearly every opening and window, usually made in brilliant colors, with the imperial purple very conspicuous. There will never be another Palatine in the history of the world.