Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1857-06-19


corpse had been carried open litter through
all the principal streets, till temple and palace and
forum and private home was deserted to join the
universal grief and indignation. They encamped
on tho Sacred Hill and never left that threatening
spot till every Decemvir was d, ad or driven from
Rome. The story has been made the subject
of one Of the best modern tragedies,
and Macduay in ono of his lays Of Ancient Rome
has renewed tho Immortality which Livy has
given to the tale
The city gates were open,-the Forum, all alive
With bsyers and with sellers, was humming like
hive
And blithcly young Virginia came smiling from
her home;
All! woe for young Virginia, tho sweetest maid
of Rome
With her small tablets in her hand and her satch
ell on he- arm,
Forth she went, bounding to the school, nor
dreamed of shame or HARM
When up the varlet Marcus came
And strobe across Virgnia's path and caught her
by the wrist
Hard strove the frighted maiden and screamed
with look aghast,
came running past
Yet gared he iercoy round him and growled in
harsh fell tone,
"She's mine and l will have her; l seek but for
mine own.
"shc is my slave, born in my house. and stolen
away and sold
"The year of the sore sickness, she was twelve
years old,''-
Now by your children cradles, now by your
fathers graves,
Be men to day, Quirites, or be forever slaves!
Oh for that ancient spirit that curbed the scnates
will
Sacred HILL
-Straightway Nirginius led the maid a little
space aside
Hard by, fesher on block, had laid his
white down,
virginius caught tn, whittle up and hid it in his
gown.
And then his eye grew very dim and his throat
began to swell
And in hoarse changed voice he spake "Farc-
well sweet child farewell!
"Thcn clasp me round tho neck once moro and
give me one more kiss ;
"And now, mine own dear little girl, there is no
way but this"
With that he lifted high the stcol and smote her
in the side,
And in her blood she sank to earth nd with one
sob she died.
Then with white lips and bloodshot eyes Virgin
Jus tottered nigh
And stood before the Judgment seat and held the
knife on high.
"Oh dwelcrs in the nethcr gloom, avengers Of
the slain
"By this dear blood l cry to you,do right between
us twain -
-And then with steadfast feet
Strobe right across the market place unto the
sacred street.
do not send you these memories Of the hack
neyed stories Of our school boy studies as
novelties, but to give you from time to time n
specimen of the scenes which are freshly brought
to view, as we pass the spots with which they are
associated. How else can 1 SO we'll give you an
idea Of travels We and hear but the
clues and catch words of the great dramas Of the
past 5000 years, and as We take the clue are
f"-""d I" r"roat tn" rnasae" that YOU may see
and feel where we are in the play.
And how should give idea of tho state
and society and manners in ancient Rome a
forced upon US here, if did not call up thes
populations and bankrupt laws these vigilanc
committees and lynch law judgments of the coun
trymen of Brutus, the assassin, regicide, the no
best Roman of them all
Onward to Tivol, not stopping half as long t
look at the Sacred Mount as it has taken you t,
IL, T -
way so on this Tiburtine way are some remarkabl
sepuchral monuments. That of the Plautiar
family, which is one of the most noble and bes
preserved in or about Rome lis some Ii miles from
the city. 1t stands in the vicinity of Lake Tarta
rus and in the sulphurous atmosphere of Solfatara
and near the Lucan bridge, widely and justl,
celebrated as one of the most picturesque object
this land Of beauty.
Lake Tartarus presents one Of the most inter
esting instances of the encrusting and petrifyin,
action Of cacareous waters. Spread over a larg,
surface even now, it was formerly much larger,
and has for ages on ages been rapidly depositing
a cacareous precptate which takes tho forms o
the reeds and twigs and leaves and grasses as the
have grown-as they have been trampled dowI
or crushed, and they have died and decayed
Those on the surface exhibit these forms, but
deeper down it becomes solid rock of the usual
hardness of such deposits and constitutes the rock
called travertine which is and for ages has been
used SO extensively in ancient and modern Rome
and elsewhere for the finest architectural erections
and ornaments. We were constantly meeting
powerful teams of those beautiful Roman oxen and
sometimes those downcast, sullen, and malicious
looking black-eyed buaalos, hauling immense
blocks Of it toward Rome-the quarries | be-
lieve are inexhaustible.
The little lake and stream of the Solfatara are
also ineresting-taking their name from their
strong exhalations of sulphur. When came to
the stream it seemed like a canal of diluted milk
believe it is really a canal and always of that
color. 1t flowed with a rapid but quiet and plac-
id current through banks of great regularity, and
following it up a little distance you reach the
lakelet which is now reduced to breadth of about
two hundred feet, while it is in depth about the
same number Of feet-and its length only about
three times that. You throw a stone into it and
after it has had time to sink and settle into the
depths Of the poisonous ooze that constitutes the
bottom, immense volumes of Of gas that is let
loose belched forth with the buildings of min
iature volcanoes. On its surface the thick mat
tors that are thrown up, unite and cOhere and the
dust and perhaps seeds and little plants settle
there and form dear little islets. that are blown
and rocked by the breezcs and whirled about by
the eddies as it in the gambols of childish
pluyfuness. This has given it sometimes the
name of the Lake of the floating islands. You
might stand and watch them till the sulphurous
vaPors should destroy you-sulphur and beauty
and danger altogether may we'll remind us of an
other birthstone lake, to which it is said that we
sometimes are nscnsibly drawn by the pursuit of
beauty and pleasure,
Continued next week.
FROM EURoPE.-The Vanderbilt arrived
at New York Sunday morning \ serious
disturbance has ia kan Mace in Ralriu,n