‘The mutability of all things’

Next to the Amphitheatre of Titus one can still see the remains

which are called Sudans, so called because abundant waters

flowed down from it and relieved the thirst of those who had been

at the spectacles in the amphitheatre . . . Here you can see the

Amphitheatre of Titus on one side of the Meta and the Arch of

Constantine on the other. You can also see Joannes Grossus

engaged in his usual practice of showing Roman antiquities to

German nobles. They, like the French nobles, are keenly interested

observers of these antiquities, and rightly so. For in addition to the

fact that an honest pursuit such as this befits honest men as a

means of spending time both profitably and enjoyably, while others

waste their time and squander their fortunes in activities that are

incompatible with honesty and in the many evils that typically

accompany leisure, the source of all wrongdoings, these German

nobles will also profit from their reflection by recognizing the

mutability of all things [rerum omnium vicissitudinem]; that is, how

many things are now humble that once flourished . . .