It may be well conceived with what interest the intelligence was received, that a Roman city had been discovered, which, safely entombed under-ground, had thus escaped the barbarian Goths and Vandals, who ravaged Italy, or the sacrilegious hands of modern pillagers. The remains of several public buildings have been discovered[273], which have possibly suffered from subsequent convulsions. Among these are two temples; one of them one hundred and fifty feet by sixty, in which was found a statue of Jupiter. A more extensive edifice stood opposite to them; forming a rectangle of two hundred and twenty-eight feet by one hundred and thirty-two, supposed to have been appropriated for the courts of justice. The arches of a portico surrounding it were supported by columns; within, it was paved with marble; the walls were painted in fresco; and bronze statues stood between forty columns under the roof. A theatre was found nearly entire; very little had been displaced; and we see in it one of the best specimens extant of the architecture of the ancients. The greatest diameter of the theatre is two hundred and thirty-four feet, whence it is computed, that it could contain ten thousand persons, which proves the great population of the city. This theatre was rich in antiquities[274], independent of the ornamental part. Statues, occupying niches, represented the Muses; scenic masks were imitated on the entablatures; and inscriptions were engraven on different places. Analogous to the last were several large alphabetical Roman characters in bronze; and a number of smaller size, which had probably been connected in some conspicuous situation. A metallic car was found, with four bronze horses attached to it, nearly of the natural size; but all in such a state of decay, that only one, and the spokes of the wheels, also in metal, could be preserved. A beautiful white marble statue of Venus, only eighteen inches high, in the same attitude as the famous Venus de Medicis, was recovered; and either here, or in the immediate vicinity, was found a colossal bronze statue of Vespasian, filled with lead, which twelve men were unable to move. Besides many objects entire, there were numerous fragments of others, extremely interesting; which had been originally impaired, or were injured by attempts to remove them.