Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-07-24
The opalnces of che 6ssars ana a view OF
. I'd 1t H" aNi n ONE

- ilIU '7'G 1iIf-I ~ i, 49,. WITT taI .l
Harriet Beecher Stowe writes q later letter
from Rome. Round the epalaces ofthe Caears in
those old days of Roman splendor, crept steal
thily here and there q slave or a woman, who
bore in her beartas mighty secret the name Of
Jesus Judean peasant whom Roman
governor had put to death to get RID OF a
popular tumult a Jew sits chained between
two soldiers in lonely prison, and writes
most cheerful and loving letters to few
scattered enthusiasts like himself who believe
some strange superstitiops The polite world
scarcely asks, what Of this Jesus2 He says,
81 am ready to preach the Gospel to you that
are in Rome also, for am not ashamed ofthe'
Gospel Of my Lord jesus Christ for it is the
power of God and the wisdom Of God unto
every one that belieyeth" In the old Coliseum
yonder, white-headed old man stood the
center Of eighty ythousandeyes, while hungry
lion rushed upon him and devoured him; and
| when people asked why" He was Chris
| tian--he said he bore this Christ within him."
Make what we will Of II, there stands the
| Coliseum in ruins-the palace Of the Caesars
molderng--and over every temple, every
| column yet left of old Rome. the statue OF
| some Christian martyrl-and the Vatican
holding all the Roman gods and goddesses
| train of magnificent captives. IL seems that
| She lonely Jew between two soldiers was not
SO far wrong in saying, 81 am not ashamed
of the Gospel of my lord Jesus Christ for II
| is the po,cer Of God" .sdt
1t was then in spirit of gigantic triumph
that Michael Angelo beholding the magnf-
cent remains ofancient art, proposed to him
self not to initiate, but to outdo them--to
hang the dome of the Pantheon in mid-air-
to pile up cliffs and fabrics of architecture
that should outdo even the gigantic concep-
tions of heather Rome.
1t is only because everywhere this human
| H. u l. Nl.NN
Christianity has gained only in name, and
not in fact. For if the devil could enthrone
the spirit of old Rome in the Christian city,
what cared he whether the temple was called
of Jove or Jesus? One does not feel the
spirit of this pile Of buildings to be any
such that, if it were proclaimed Tomorrow
to belong to the old Caesars, one would feel
an incongruity, notwithstanding its images
! of evangelists and martyrs-at Milan one
oouM. A Caesar awaking on its roof would
be at loss to explain the spirit of the building
here he would not. A great triumph
J dome-a splendid exultation-a dedication
of some demi-god-he could accept it a
= once. .... ...
c Michael Angelo expressed only that portion
> of the religious element which belong
q equally to Paganism and Christianism-tha
t of UastnesS and power. There was no sweet
3 ness, no pathos, no tenderness, no love. On
G feels that human prayer might flutter lik
! a bewildered butterfly under the polished
. arches of ST. Peters, and lose itself in tn,
s infinite vastness without touching heart o
love any where. -r..p.-
d 1t sjust as grand, and sublime, and cold a
a old Romanism, and her Michael Angel
: seems to me only an old Roman risen iron
t the dead expressing with slight changes Q
! form all the old Roman ideas. His Christ i
t Jupiter with u handful of thunderboltE
| His Moses, far from being that motherly MAJ
that brooded people in his bosom, as he
: broods her young, is great craggy, Roma
y demi-god mighty, mysterious and cold. Yo
see no trace Of the man who wept and inter
II ceded for sining 1srael-who said in his pas
IS sionate love; "lf thou wilt, forgive their SIM
IS but if not, blot me, pray thee, out of tn
It book ... .. u
n Michael Angeles Moses never shed tea
e and never thought Of giving himself tt
d anybody--he is true Olympian divinit.
e; very strong, very high, very knowing, yer
d cold-for Michael Angelo could put no mol
'e in him than he had in himself. His tru
ID place is with the rest of his race, in the hal
of the Vatican, rather than in Christia
s. church. All his saints and martyrs seem
be much on the same order. The spirit
Christian Rome, SO far as expressed by hin
Is seems to be that of worldly retaliation--as
n saying-nHere, you devilsl look out fl
/ yourselves; you stoned and crucifed an
o, burned as, now it is ou,. turn. We sain
9, have got the Roman empire, and mean
have It our own way. We are going to loi
it on the top of columns and monument
and you are going to lie in the dust at o,
=, feet. We are going to have marble halls al
>" gems, and mosaics, and chariots, and horse
and servants. Down with your old palace
If we Christians, now we have got you dow
u can't beat you in your own line, it's apity."