History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 4Gibbon, Edward
History
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 4
Gibbon, Edward
Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.
77 (return) [ M. D’Anville has given, in the Memoirs of the
Academy for the year 1756, (tom. xxx. p. 198—236,) a plan of Rome
on a smaller scale, but far more accurate than that which he had
delineated in 1738 for Rollin’s history. Experience had improved
his knowledge and instead of Rossi’s topography, he used the new
and excellent map of Nolli. Pliny’s old measure of thirteen must
be reduced to eight miles. It is easier to alter a text, than to
remove hills or buildings. * Note: Compare Gibbon, ch. xi. note
43, and xxxi. 67, and ch. lxxi. “It is quite clear,” observes Sir
J. Hobhouse, “that all these measurements differ, (in the first
and second it is 21, in the text 12 and 345 paces, in the last
10,) yet it is equally clear that the historian avers that they
are all the same.” The present extent, 12 3/4 nearly agrees with
the second statement of Gibbon. Sir. J. Hobhouse also observes
that the walls were enlarged by Constantine; but there can be no
doubt that the circuit has been much changed. Illust. of Ch.
Harold, p. 180.—M.]
78 (return) [ In the year 1709, Labat (Voyages en Italie, tom.
iii. p. 218) reckoned 138,568 Christian souls, besides 8000 or
10,000 Jews—without souls? In the year 1763, the numbers exceeded
160,000.]
79 (return) [ The accurate eye of Nardini (Roma Antica, l. i. c.
viii. p. 31) could distinguish the tumultuarie opere di
Belisario.]
80 (return) [ The fissure and leaning in the upper part of the
wall, which Procopius observed, (Goth. l. i. c. 13,) is visible
to the present hour, (Douat. Roma Vetus, l. i. c. 17, p. 53,
54.)]
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