FIG. 18. FROM ARLES MUSEUM.
The arcade on this sarcophagus is supported on pillars with composite caps and bases, and shafts ornamented with flutings and twists, similar in character to the shafts of the early mediæval cloisters. The archivolt is a veritable architrave with leaf enrichment carried round the arch, and filled in with a scallop shell. It thus forms a distinct and instructive example of the manner in which the late Romans dispensed with the straight architrave, and adopted the arch springing directly from the caps of the columns, as will be more fully explained further on. It will then be shewn how this monument illustrates the transition from the leading features of the Greek trabeated style to those of fully developed Roman Architecture, and also the mode in which Roman art was continued into Christian times.
Most of the early Christian sarcophagi are carved with Biblical subjects symbolical of the new birth, the great Sacrifice, the Resurrection, the Last Judgment, &c., such as the creation of Adam and Eve, Moses striking the rock or raising the serpent, Jonah and the whale, Daniel and the lions, the parables and miracles of our Lord, &c. These form as interesting a series of early Christian sculptures, combined with late Roman features, as is anywhere to be found.
On the east side of the town are the remains of some parts of the Roman walls, built in their usual massive manner. These consist of portions of the gate of the town, by which the Aurelian way entered, flanked by ruined round towers.
FIG. 19.
Nimes (Nemausus). Situated at no great distance from Arles, and at the base of the hills which bound the plain of the Rhone, Nimes formed the capital of the Volces Arecomiques (or inhabitants of the flat country). In B.C. 121 it submitted voluntarily to Rome, and a few years B.C. Augustus planted a colony there. Being enriched with baths, &c., by Agrippa, Nimes soon became an important town surrounded with walls and towers, and provided with all the usual public buildings. It had reached the height of prosperity when it was ravaged by the Vandals in 407. In 472 it fell under the power of the Visigoths, who established themselves in the town, and made the amphitheatre their fortress. After suffering the usual course of sieges and destruction by the Saracens and Franks, Nimes early declared itself a Republic. In 1185 it came under the suzerainty of the Count of Toulouse, in which condition it continued to flourish till it finally passed to France under Louis VIII., along with the other domains of the Count of Toulouse after the Albigensian wars.