The arch of Titus Vespasian struck me more than all the others
we have named though; less for its being the first building in which the
Composite order of architecture is made use of, among the numberless
fabrics that surround one, than for the evident completion of the
prophecies which it exhibits. Nothing can appear less injured by time
than the bas-reliefs, on one side representing the ark, and golden
candlesticks; on the other, Titus himself, delight of human kind, drawn
by four horses, his look at once serene and sublime. The Jews cannot
endure, I am told, to pass under this arch, so lively is the
_annihilation_ of their government, and utter _extinction_ of their
religion, carved upon it. When reflecting on the continued captivity
they have suffered ever since this arch was erected here at Rome, and
which they still suffer, being strictly confined to their own miserable
Ghetto, which they dare not leave without a mark upon their hat to
distinguish them, and are never permitted to stir without the walls,
except in custody of some one whose business it is to bring them back;
when reflecting, I say, on their sorrows and punishments, one's heart
half inclines to pity their wretchedness; the dreadful recollection
immediately crosses one, that these are the direct and lineal progeny of
those very Jews who cried out aloud--"_Let his blood be upon us, and
upon our children!_"--Unhappy race! how sweetly does St.
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