Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1854-09-06

fees which were the marvel of their epoch, and OF
its right browning and covering an extensive mn
called then as now Palatine, tsee ruins plic'
upon ruins. BY night may hear there the pa
and the OWL and stumble over the broken and plieS
up fragments of enormous palaces which the "eaitl
of the richest nation of earth constructed during me-
most luxuriant days These are the palaces OF tn'
Caesars and ofDiocletan covering an immense area
Night winds would howl through their half hee
vaults the rain drops beat in upon their painted walls
and their fretted ceilings damp with slime. In ts
day the ripe waves at the base OF Its mouluer
ing walls, and the vine is trained over their tops
At each coming fall their annual crop is gathered
which has been fed by the crumbled brick and NOR
tar returning to its original dust With each year
nature regains her dominion art, and with her
slow but constant toll by and certain means she
gathers back to her bosom the elements which man
had stolen from her to raise his trall tenements lie
may employ science and knowledge, may add and
change and combine but all must yield to the great
alchemy of nature and from the top OF the Collse-
UNI its doom is in the tall corn which waves on
| the Palatnc Hill.
This then is truly hallowed spot-here lies the
graves ofgreat deeds-here were born and were ma
| tured those memorable events which marked the
! world and their epoch.
Cecilia swan the Yellow Thur" (FIaru1a It6erinp)
to join her Roman friends. Through this gate rush
ed an Infatuated people, when maddened by resent
ment they at length tore off the shackes of the ty
rant and took their fortunes their own hands
| Here struck the arm of the outraged father as he
drew from the heart of his spotess child the reeking
STEEL and calling aloud for vengeance, swore by the
sacrifice worthy of Roman, to assert the liberties
of his country! There the Roman father spoke
those stern words which from the issue Of his oins
took life A sweet spoken orator of matchless mlen
and godlikc purpose, clothed in his toga, from that
tribunal there fired his country with glorious eo-
! quence as he poured forth those words which none
| but him could so well pronounce Anon he burns
with rescntment-now his eyes flash fire as he ut
tiers those scathing dcnuncations which cowed Cat
aline, or poured out with marvellous fuency from
his fecund lip that high philosophy which Rome had
never yet listened to, and which Greece scarce had
conceived of.
AS if in the midst of his DISCOURSE he wraps his
cloak around him, methnks see his veins swell and
his proud form dilate, he recouns the injuries OF
the opprcssed-the high duties of the citzen-the
safeguards of the republicthe dangers of intestine
foes-or calming down into the wide channel of
statesnlaniike argument deduce by mastery logic
those subtle rules of morals upon which is based all
true greatness Whether the orator conducted his
argument upon the great principles of government
or of national poiicy-Whether by a long chain of
reasoning he educed the great maxms of philosophy
whether he taught those beautiful preceps of So
cial life which shine with mellow lustre in his De
-4micitid De Senectute--or whether a cuprit
cowed before his indignant fiown, at the move
mcnt of his finger-he still stands before there
in the Forum of which see now naught save the
half buried brick and floor and the damp pillars
under which they walked!
Again, see strange Gallo Legions, with the same
anxious faces with which they leapt the Rubcon
crowding in and around the pillars there, whilst
scious that he had aimed blow at the heart of
Rome-which struck to the earth at once both him
and her.
This man with the massive forehead and thought !
full brow, that see in the marble bust of him at
Naples has triumphed in all the clements Of dstinc-
tion-he has worn the laurel on every tied-he has
carried off the prizes in every contes-he is sturdy
champion in war, in diplomacy, in lctters--he can |
lead army storm fortress better than the best
in the Republican the midst of the camp he can |
write Memoirs pure and classic, such models of |
clearncss and beauty, of combined strength and |
elegance, that the schooboy is pointed to them for
imitation thousand years after him. In diplomacy |
he is willy and adroit the most sagacious! He |
is universal in his tastes, fancies an4 capacities is
content to leave a mistress like Cleopatra to trace
the sources of the Nile; he initiates the luxu-
r;es of Luculus and Polio in taking yomit before
his meals, and he builds baths, villas, and palaces at
Baia, at Palsippo, and ON the Paatine Hill, which |
fully rivals theirs in richness and beauty. But the
statute of Pompey in the Borghesc Palace is still
stained with biood-for there is around him there
{ trusty and we'll beloved Brutus with stern and
lowering front, and there is there lean and hungry
Cassus who taught the world how the current events
reposc in the firm purpose and deathcss conStancy
of single man, and how one arm WELD and direct
the destinies of Empires The pavements Of the
Forum these men trampled upon when such thoughts
tore their very heartstrings.
At the blow of Cassius and of Brntus the whole
drama Of the Augustan Period opens into view.
They brought destruction along with themselves up
on all, even the greatest among them. Cicero fell
rioted in excess, till from the bloody picture was
ushcred into view those golden days of Augustus
and Macenas, and Horace and Virgil-when the
finest epics, the most graceful verses all the delica-
cies and amenities of life at the same time refined
cultivated and luxurious were exhibited. Before all
had been revolutionary, strong vigorous and passion
ate; it is all ghtness and elegance and taste And
here not hundred yards from this spot Liva was
borne fainting from the hall when the poet read to
her Lord the TueTis MGrcellus, and the Kneid adj
to the vanity of prince and people There
stands Virgil all radiant with excitement he
rates the well drawn picture; the Sybil foretelng
and showing to the Trojan Cheftain the shades of
those great men of coming time; Horace sits in the
back ground enjoying the triumph of modest but
exalted merit-Claudia is pale with emotion and
Augustus and Mecenas drink in the touching story.
The busts and statues that reposng in the
Vatican for the benefit of the curious decorate the
room.
There another, the "Greatest Roman of them
all" who walked this Forum many long year be-
fore these, but whom all delight to remember and
to point to as the parent of the Scipos This
old Scpio, the grandfather of Scipio Afrcanus.
He it is whom Cicero delights to cite as the good
old model of virtue and elegance-one of those fine
gentlemen of the early days who gave their names
to the best families and noblest blood of Rome, and
who rank with Dentatus, with Cato and with Leila.
l not only descend down into his very tomb along
the Via Appia where Cicero tells they lay in his
day, as he says when you go out of the porta ca
pena and see the tombs of Csatinus, the Scipios,
the Servl and the Metelli you consider that the
buried inmates were unhappy" and where he was
wont to reflect on the virtues of his ancestors but
actually open his very coffin in the Vatican, handle
familiary the remains and read there the merits of
the venerable dead. For a stirring memento of the
past-for vertable relic of remote antiquity, moth
ing compares with the tomb of the earliest of this