Note 066
In his first visit to Rome (A.D. 1337. See Memoires sur Petrarque, tom. i. p. 322, &c.) Petrarch is struck mute

miraculo rerumtantarum, et stuporis mole obrutus . . . . Praesentia vero, mirum dictû nihil imminuit: vere major fuit Roma majoresque sunt reliquiae quam rebar. Jam non orbem ab hâc urbe domitum, sed tam sero domitum, miror, (Opp. p. 605, Familiares, ii. 14, Joanni Columnae.)

The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire —Fall In The East —Chapter 71