Page 6

                                  [611
to give this part of the fea the appearance of a great lake. On the North
Weft lies the bay which led towards the ancient city of Salona, and the country
beyond it appearing in fight, forms a proper contraft to that more extenfive
profpe6l of water which the Adriatic prefents both to the South and to the
Eaft.
Towards the North the view is terminated by high and irregular mountains,
fituated at a proper diflance, and in many places covered with villages,
woods, and vineyards.
   From this defcription, as well as from the views which I have publiffied,
(Plates 3d and 4th) it is evident that no province in this wide-extended
empire,
could have afforded DIOCLESIAN a more elegant place of retirement; and the
beauty of the fituation, no lefs than the circumftance of its being his native
country, feems to have determined him to fix his refidence there.
  The only thing wanting at Spalatro was good water; but this defed  was
fripplied by an aquedud from Salona, (Plate 6 i) feveral arches of which
remain at prefent, and the conduit that formerly conveyed the water is fill
V'~14 -T b
  The palace itfelf was a work fo great, that the Emperor Conflantinus
Porphyrogenitus, who had feen the moft fplendid buildings of the Ancients
(I),
affirms that no plan or defcription can convey a perfed idea of its magnificence.
The vaff extent of ground which it occupied is furprifing at firif fight;
the
dimenfions of one fide of the quadrangle, including the towers, being no
lefs
than 698 feet, and of the other 59z feet, making the fuperficial content
4132i6 feet, being nearly nine and an half Englifh acres. But when we
confider that it contained proper apartments not only for the Emperor himfel,
and for the numerous retinue of officers who attended his court, but likewife
edifices and open fpaces for exercises of different kinds; that it was capable
of
lodging a pretorian cohort, and that two temples were ereded within its
precinds, we will not conclude the area to have been too large for fAch a
variety of buildings.
       (i) ConIf. Porphyrogenitus de Adminiftrando Imperio ad Romanum Filium.
The