Litchfield enquirer., 1858-06-24
LETTER FROM W. c. BRYANT.
 RoME. May 2l, 1858.


 which may furnish matter for short letter.
 Rome has it's rich collections of ancient art in the Vatican, but there is still richer muse um in the earth below. The spade can scarce y be thrust into the ground without turning up some work of art or striking upon some monument of the olden time Most of the fine statues in the public galleries have, l be lieve, been discovered in digging to lay the foundations of buildings /; and who can tell what masterpieces of Greek sculpture are yet concealed under that thick layer of rubbish which overlies the ancient level of the city what representations Of
 "The fair humanities of old religion,'
 are waiting the hour when they shall be resto- rcd to daylight and the admiration of the world-prostrate Jupiters, nymphs with their placid features and taper limbs inb dded- in the mould, and merry fauns that have smiled for thousand years in the darkness of the ground
 The present government of Rome is turn ing its attention to the excavation of those spots which promise most. As 1 was passing, the other day, in street leading towards the Colosseum, in company with an American ar tist residing here, he said, pointing to certain ancient columns the lower part of which stood deep in the earth :" The Pope waDts to dig about these columns, but the spot is. leased, and he cannot If it were but in the posses sion of those who own the fee, he might take it, but he cannot interfere with a lease. At the foot of those fine old columns he would probably find something worth his trouble"
 This passion for excavation has been fortu- nately gratifcd elsewhere If you look at Sir William Cells Map of the Environs of Rome, you will see traced from near the gate of St. John towards Monte Cavo, beyond the Alban lake, an ancient road bearing the name of Via LatinG. If you look for it on the Campagna, you will find it covered with grass, and cattle grazing over it. On the line of this buried street, and not far from the city wall<, workmen employed by the Pope are break ng the green turf aud .trenching the ground tos a considerable depth. They have laid bare sev- eral solid masses of Roman masonry, and the foundations of an ancient Christian church, a basilica, over which were scattered in the soil many marble columns with Corinthian ,capi- tas and bases on which is carved the figure of the cross, indicating beyond a question the purpose of the building. But tue most re- markable of these discoveries are two places of sepulture, consisting of vaulted rooms in the earth, to which you descend by staircases of stone. The earth had fallen into the en- frances and closed them but had not filled the space within, so that the stucco medallIons aud paintings overhead were found in as perfect preservation as when they came from the hands of the artist. In one of these tombs, which consisted of single vaulted chamber with a pure white surface, 1 found an artist perched upon high seat over two huge stone cofins, copying the spirited and fancifnl figures of men and animals, ill stucco, with which the arched ceiling was studded. The other tomb is larger and deeper in the ground, and con- siSts of two vaulted chambers, communicating with each other, against the walls of which stood marble sarcophagi, rough with figures ip high relief. On the ceiling of one of the rooms, among the stucco medaons, were ar abesques in vivid colors, and landscapes ill fresco, which show far more advanced stage of this brauch of the art than anything which has been found at Pompeii. They are painted ill what seemed to me kind of neutral tint. Here are trees with gnarIed branches, and fol- iage drawn with free and graceful touch, and buildings rising among the trees, and fig ures of people engaged iu rural employment ; and all is given with a decided and skiltul aeri- al perspective, the objects becoming less dis tinct aud sharp in outline as they are supposed to recede from .he eye |" Ten years hence" said the artist w ho accompanied us on this ex- cursion, "you may see all these figures engra- ved and published in book. Here at Rome we never do anything in hurry"
 It is not unlikely that the admission of ex- ternal air will cause the stucce to peel from these vaults, or at least will cause the paint ings to fade. "I think," said our friend, the artist, that the landscapes are less distinct now than they were ten days since." In the mean time. all Rome is talking of this discoy, cry it is the great topic of the time. Num- bers of people are constantly passing out of Rome to visit the excavations on the Ti0 La- tina. As we approached the city the other day, by the magnificent paved road called the New Appian Way, we wondered why all Rome should be rushing into the Campagna j; so ma ny people did we meet walking, and SO many caI- riages rattling out of the gate of San Giovan- ni When at length we visited the excava- tions, this was all explained. There was quite throng about the principal tomb, where a man in uniform stood at the entrance, admit ting only a certain number of visitors at a time, in order that they might not be in each others way. A few strangers were among them, but the greater number were Romans of different classes-rortly men of slightly blu sjsh complexion, who came in carriages accom- panied by welldressed ladies-and persons ol a number condition who came on foot, the women sometimes bringing with them their in- fants- s-quiet creatures, asleep on their moth ers' shoulders. There was great deal of an mated and eager discussion under the stueco figures and arabcsques, for in Rome art is one ot the few subjects on which people are al- lowed to speak freely.
 As We left the spot and entered the New