The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1856-02-09
Flora Of the Colosseum Of Rome.
lY EicuAED DEAEiN, VI. b.

BY RICHARD BEAEIN, NJ. b.
Where Roman mob roarcd louder than
the Wild beasts, as the Jews bled on the
sand beheath, Is now silent ruin, where
the owls build, aud the tourist quotes BY
rons Iines-where, in few days, five thou
sand wild beasts persisted to delight the
brute me-, now trail the caper aud the
brambIe. Among the plants in this great
ring" Of the Roman fancy are the cu'i-
nary fennel, with its pungent stalk the iid-
dle-dock, our own wayiarer; and the ILL.,
o!orcd garlic, delight Of the Andausian.
From the blood stained soil, once iish-pond
IN Nero'S palace garden close to the Baths
OF Titus, where the LAGOON was found
ana opposite the temple of Nenus-where
elephants lions, panthcrs and rhinoceroscs
were al mixed up-uow bloom the sweet
scented elematis, with its tingle Of white
stars and green leaves, and the pink ane-
none that clouds the grey stones in spring
with the flush Of 4 transitory morning. Be
low u Hover the poisonous but scented ra.
nunculousy the blue lark, spur, the bell.
shaped mallow, and the stupted yellow
stone-crop. There is the cherry that Lucul-
lus brought from Asia; and the wild pear
sprung, perhaps, from stray seed blown from
dead CAESARS garden. The hcrbalist comes
hithcr to gather the scented roots of the herb
bennct, which is tonic or the potcutlas,
which are icbrillgCs-thc fax, which is Il
cathartic-and the madacr, wonderful in its
dye. Children follow them to climb for the
bramblc fruit and the wild strawberry, to
gather leaves for The saad--tryaling down
the pink and the Wild vine to get at the
scented wIld.howcr and the blue cyebright
Al! sorts Of legends cluster round these
stones and take root with the ilo crs.
There grows trcfgil tlat is dreaded 10y
witches saxiragc, sacred to the moon
yeryald, the Dfuid's hcrb-an1 lo!ium re-
pr0bated by the Poet Of Mantua Every
season rob 8 the Colosseum in some fresh
ness. IL May there is the white rose, the
violet the pink, the spotted catchiiy, the
sandwort, the cIs,us, the gC.anlum, and the
common poppy. Ia Jane break out the
st0rh's bill, the yellow wood sOrtcl, the
golden broom, the vctrh, the red vaicrian,
aud the honcysucklc that the goat browsgs
on. In july there is the snapdragon, the
scarlet pinpccncl aud the gagIy uish,,haIe.
50 the season, pass, with their shttings Of
hucs and colors.
How strangely has the old field Of death
changed into the nursery Of Wild flowers.
Not single scat now rymaius--tnc upper
gallery uf the fourth story is destroyed :;
but Nature has laid no curse on the place
where so many Christian martyrs were given
TO tie lions, and where our ancestors fought
aud the children Of Israel persisted.
The IVtlDr -qy- tiHf tut -t..i.- ~ t'a J..
are found growing upon the Colosseum in
Guiding 2o3 genera, and illustrations Of GG
Of The natural order of plants. There are
81 species Of grasses, Il Of the ,yngoue.
! siOuS plants, and ( OF the pea tribe This
is an enclosed space of SIX acres Of ground
limit that does not iucludc the walls and
ruins. The space includes great variety Of
soil and temperature. The lower north side
is damp, while the upper walls and accumu-
lated mould are warm and dry; and the
south side il still hotter AMI more Italian.
Ii seems a strange mutation that one Of
the most innocent and poyura Of the sci.
ences should now chose the colosseum a. IL,
favorite haunt-a place that wa, at one tine
the charneI-housc of the world. Here the
swarth Egyptian and the Buton, with his
blue dyed skin, the agile Moor and the crisp
haired Nubian struggled aud died amid the
shouts Of Rome, uprolrious on rs HOLIDAYS:
here dying men watched for the upward or
downward thumbs, and died cur-iug the Ro.
man and his gods. Sometimes at the same
moment there were writhing together in the
great circus, AOrsomcu, ipotmcu. Inraci.
ans, Samnltcs, men with nets and uiIcntS,
square shields and round huDhlcr>, with
bands Of cnrogcd lions, fleet os'rchpS and