A Years Journey through France and Part of Spain | Page 3

burn the capitol to ashes, but to bear
absolute sway in the capitol:--The result was, however, that though
they did not mean to overthrow the state, yet they risqued all, rather
than be overthrown themselves; and they rather promoted the massacre
of their fellow-citizens, than a reconciliation and union of
parties,"--THUS FELL ROME--Take heed, BRITAIN!

LETTER XXXV.
ARLES.
I left Nismes reluctantly, having formed there an agreeable and friendly
intimacy with Mr. _D'Oliere_, a young gentleman of Switzerland; and
an edifying, and entertaining acquaintance, with Mons. Seguier. I left
too, the best and most sumptuous lodgings I had seen in my whole tour;
but a desire to see Arles, Aix, and Marseilles, &c. got the better of all.
But I set out too soon after the snow and rains, and I found part of the
road so bad, that I wonder how my horse dragged us through so much
clay and dirt. When I gave you some account of the antiquities of
Nismes, I did not expect to find Arles a town fraught with ten times
more matter and amusement for an antiquarian; but I found it not only a
fine town now, but that it abounds with an infinite number of
monuments which evince its having once been an almost second Rome.
There still remains enough of the Amphitheatre to convince the
beholder what a noble edifice it was, and to wonder why so little, of so
large and solid a building, remains. The town is built on the banks of
the Rhone, over which, on a bridge of barges, we entered it; but it is
evident, that in former days, the sea came quite up to it, and that it was
a haven for ships of burden; but the sea has retired some leagues from it,
many ages since; beside an hundred strong marks at this day of its
having been a sea-port formerly, the following inscription found a
century or two ago, in the church of _St. Gabriel_, will clearly confirm

it:
M. FRONTONI EVPOR IIIIIIVIR AVG. COL. JVLIA. AVG. AQVIS
SEXTIIS NAVICVLAR. MAR. AREL. CVRAT EJVSD. CORP.
PATRONA NAVTAR DRVENTICORVM. ET VTRICVLARIORVM.
CORP. ERNAGINENSIUM. JULIA NICE VXOR. CONJVGI
KARISSIMO.
Indeed there are many substantial reasons to believe, that it was at this
town _Julius Cæsar_ built the twelve gallies, which, from the cutting of
the wood to the time they were employed on service, was but thirty
days.--That it was a very considerable city in the time of the first
Emperors, is past all doubt. Constantine the Great held his court, and
resided at Arles, with all his family; and the Empress Faustina was
delivered of a son here (Constantine the younger) and it was long
before so celebrated for an annual fair held in the month of August, that
it was called le Noble Marche de Gaules. And Strabo, in his dedication
of his book to the Emperor, called it "_Galliarum Emporium non
Parvum_;" which is a proof that it was celebrated for its rich commerce,
&c. five hundred years before it became under the dominion of the
Romans. But were I capable of giving you a particular description of all
the monuments of antiquity in and near this town, it would compose a
little book, instead of a sheet or two of paper. I shall therefore only pick
out a few things which have afforded me the most entertainment, and I
hope may give you a little; but I shall begin with mentioning what must
first give you concern, in saying that in that part of the town called la
Roquette, I was shewn the place where formerly stood an elevated Altar
whereon, three young citizens were sacrificed annually, and who were
fattened at the public expence during a whole year, for the horrid
purpose! On the first of May their throats were cut in the presence of a
prodigious multitude of people assembled from all parts; among whom
the blood of the victims was thrown, as they imagined all their sins
were expiated by that barbarous sacrifice; which horrid practice was
put a stop to by the first Bishop of Arles, ST. TROPHIME. The Jews,
who had formerly a synagogue in Arles, were driven out in the year
1493, when that and their celebrated School were demolished. There
were found about an hundred after, among the stones of those buildings

some Hebrew characters neatly cut, which were copied and sent to the
Rabbins of Avignon, to be translated, and who explained them then
thus:
Chodesh: Elvl. Chamescheth, lamech, nav. Nislamv. Bedikoth.
Schradai.
i.e. they say,
"In the month of August five thousand and thirty--the Visitation of God
ceased."
Perhaps the plague had visited them.--There was also another Hebrew
inscription, which was on the tomb of a famous Rabbin called Solomon,
surnamed the grandson of