New-York daily tribune., 1851-07-29

thst this was an immense snph.heater. con
str,,cted IN the days Of Rome's imperial g-ea,
ness. used for gisdla,orial combitS OF men with
ierocious beasts and with each other, and calcu-
lated to afford view OF the spectacle to abou,
one hundred thousand persons st once. The
circuit Of the building Is over sixteen hundred
feet. the arena In its center Is abou! three hum
dred and eighty by two hundred and eighty feet
Most of the walls have fallen for perhaps nan
their hight, though some par; OF them s'ill re-
tain very nearly their original alutuie. In the
darker ages. after this vas, ediice had fallen
INTO rum. Its materials were carried away by
thousands and tens Of thousands Of tun> -
build palaces and churches. and one side OF the
exterior wall was actually for ages drawn up0n
as if it were quarry. But in later years the
Papa Government has diS5urSed thousands upon
thousands in the uncOvering and preservation oi
this stupendous run. and with the ampleSt sue
cess The fall Of great portion Of IL walls
had filled and buried It with rubbish TO 4 depth
OF some twenty 10 forty feet. all OF which has
been taken away, 80 that the floor OF the lnte-
rlor Is now the vertabe sand whereon the com
batants fought and bed and rendered up their
lives. while the forty or fifty entrances for en-
perors, senators and people, ani even the under
ground passage for the Introduction of the wild
beasts, with part of their cages, are now pal
pable. In some places, reStOrstionS have been
made where they were necessary TO avert the
danger of further dilapldation, but As sparngly
as possible and, though others think differently,
the Coliseum seems to me as majestic and I'M
presslve IN Its utter desolation as II ever could
have been in its grandeur and glory.
We were fortunate IN the hour OF our visit
As we slowly made the circuit of the edihce
body of French cavalry were exercising their
horses along the eastern side of 1t, while at lit
tie distance, in the grove or garden at the south,
the quick rattle of the drum told of the evolu
tions OF infantry. At length the h0rsemen rode
slowly away TO the southwark, and our attention
was drawn to certain groups of Italians IN the
interior, who were slowly marching and chant
ing. We entered and were witnesses of
strange, impressive ceremony. II is among the
traditions of Rome that great number OF the
early Christians were compelled by their heather
prosecutors to fight and die here as gladlators as
punishment for their contumaclouS, reasonable
resistance to the lower law then In the ascen-
dant, which the high priests and circuit Judges OF
that day were wont In their sermons and charges
to demonstrate that every one was bound As
law-abdng citizen to obey, no matter what
might be his private, personal convictions with
regard to it, Since the Coliseum has been
cleared of rubbish, fourteen little oratories or
places Of prayer have been cheaply constructed
around its inner clrcum erence, and here at GER
tam seasons prayers are offered for the eternal
bliss of the martyred Christians OF the Coliseum.
These PRAYERS were being offered on this Occa-
sion Some twenty or thirty men, (priests or
monks nferred) partly bareheaded, but as many
with their heads completely covered by hooded
cloaks which left only two small holes tor the
eyes, accompanied by arger number of women,
marched slowly and sadly 10 one oratory, chant
ing prayer ~ the way, setting up their lighted
tapers by It's semblancc of an altar, kneelmg and
PRAYING for some minutes, then rising and pro
ceeding to the next Orat0ry, and SO on until they
had repeated the service before every one. They
all seemed To be of the poorer class. and | pre-
sumo the ceremony is often repeated or the par
ticiuators would have been much more numer-
Gus. The praying was feryent and trust excel
lent.--as the music decidedly was not but the
whole scene, with the setting sun shining redly
through the shattered arches and upon the ruined
wall, with a few French soldiers standing heed
lessy by, was strangely picturesque and to me
affecting | came away before 1t concluded, to
avoid the damp nlght-alr, but many chequered
years and scenes Of stirring interest must inter
vene 10 efface from nv memory that sunset and
those strange prayers in the Coliseum II. 6.