'
The inhabitants of that day, in their peasant's cloaks and boots,
looked to foreigners like cowherds; and in fact the cattle were
pastured in the city up to the Banchi. The only social gatherings were
the services at church, on which occasion it was possible also to get a
sight of the beautiful women.
In the last years of Eugenius IV (d. 1447) Biondus of Forli wrote his
'Roma Instaurata,' making use of Frontinus and of the old 'Libri
Regionali,' as well as, it seems, of Anastasius. His object is not only
the description of what existed, but still more the recovery of what
was lost. In accordance with the dedication to the Pope, he consoles
himself for the general ruin by the thought of the precious relics of
the saints in which Rome was so rich.
With Nicholas V (1447-1455) that new monumental spirit which was
distinctive of the age of the Renaissance appeared on the papal throne.
The new passion for embellishing the city brought with it on the one
hand a fresh danger for the ruins, on the other a respect for them, as
forming one of Rome's claims to distinction. Pius II was wholly
possessed by antiquarian enthusiasm, and if he speaks little of the
antiquities of Rome, he closely studied those of all other parts of
Italy, and was the first to know and describe accurately the remains
which abounded in the districts for miles around the capital.
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