Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1866-03-30
EXTRACT
DR.. D. F. Wright's First Lecture
ON THE
ROMAN REPUBLIC.
Delivered before the Chremanthian Society, Thursday
March Is, 1866

derful nation whose institutions we have undertake
en- to study, it will be necessary to place you at
point in time two thousand FIVE hundred years dis
tant from the present This is mental process by
no means easy TO attain Such vast periods of time,
when simply stated arithmeticaly, present no dis
tnct conceptions to the mind; from a simple state
ment in numbers, the imagination is conscious of
no difference in the effort to conceive lapse of
two thousand five hundred, or of one thousand
years; and it is only when some cognzance is taken
of the prUgress of events during such period that
a dim conception is presented to the mind Of the
almost boundless cycle of human vicisstude which
is therein implied.
Let us, then by some such process, endeavor
to picture to ourselves the Italy Of twenty-five
centuries ago-the young Italy, as yet unburdened
by Rome's stupendous greatness; as yet innocent
of Rome's stupendous wickedness. Italy, still
guiltless of Romel The effort to travel to so re-
mote a, period of the past, by separate stages Of
consecutive conditions is something like the
studies of the geoogst wherein he passes from the
cognizapce of the period occupied by man and the
animals still in existence, to an age of kangaroos
and extinct birds of vast stature, like ostrches
thence to an age of reptiles, an age OF amphibious
monsters an age of fish, and so, by successive sta
ges, to a period when the very vestiges Of an Or
ganic cosmos are no longer traceable The success
n nass hv in TRAVELLING backyard from the Itav of
~ aa ~ hat of tho remote ner;od We are tn con-
,ori,,a oro car,a;nIv not loss s,rorge and var;ed
The Italy of to-day is the first and by no means
the least interesting picture we thus summon for
your inspection--the Italy Of Victor Emanuel and
Garbaldi a nation renewing its youth under the
u, s.nu.ra5 ond ,;sely and virtuouslv exerc;sed
ldto,;,,s, .hn n;n,urosnue Ioss;,nde of a naonle
,rhoso oo,onoi MD hos been crn.bed ont of them
W. - ~; -, e., ,ha hun, Of ;ndns,rr tho
;iinminaiion of reviving intelpence and the steady
march of national progress.
A cheering sight; but we have no time 10 dwell
upon it. Time rolls back his pictured canvass, and
what different scene-how gorgeous, how superbl
| We look upon Papal Rome and Ecclesiastical Italy
in its zenith of pride, pomp and power. The Rome
and Italy Of Dante and Giotto, of Raphael, Michael
Angelo and Da Vinci of the Sforzas, the Visconti
and the Medici the prelates and poets, the princes
and artists OF the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
All that art can produce OF beauty and sublimity,
at period when art SCARED far above any flights
she has attained before or since, all that the wealth
OF Europe just reveling In the new-found resources
Of expanding commerce and manufactures can con-
tribute, all the ectdt of brilliant military achieve
ments, all the splendor OF newly-fonnded monarch
les, just beginning to adumbrate the powerful dy-
nasties of modern Europe, all the intellectual
wealth OF new and vigorous literature stimulated
by the expanding freedom OF thought and enriched
by the redscovery OF the mental treasures OF an
cient Greece and Rome-all this inexhaustible sup
ply of physical, moral and intellectual wealth, all
is brought proudly and gladly by its innumerable
contributors to the foot of the Papal throne, and
there deposited in simple reverence, as costly
tribute to what was then deemed the visible King
dom of Christ upon earth. Surely the world has
never before witnessed the like for gorgeonsness
brilliancy and vastness; but gorgeous, bright and
vast as il is, it must vanish from our Imagination
and,
/ "Like the unsubstantial fabric Of a vision,
Leave not a wrlck behind
Va. f,r ,horoh ,vo have a,reodv arrival q, who,
10 ~ ne a remote ont;ouitv children as we are n
S.star,av this verv generation which we bav,
;hns oayisd hacL from ,6e mast ;s living and NOV
;n sn,onr, tha traces of what ;s N !, mnch NOR.
rao,o,. ani;onj,v Do Won doubt it9 En,er then
,r;,h 10 me- ono of ,Ss;r snmntnou, chnrnbe.N
m,ha, 40 ,,o, 500 why Of 6rOt s;gb, a ds,yi;no
aone,s;o, os ,no,s o,owno viii Inc hr;,,h,as, hna
oS ,,ornh,rv and vayde ant;oua maIach;ts and ion
ta,rH;. - ororod With Tho still more nIow;p@
orLs % I,aIvs nob,est na;n,ers the ceil;na o,;ys
With tho scnln,nre of Michael Angelo. the yer,
n.uo,ar, o5nrnaa With yor;ons,v coIorad r,.rhIas
pnS,o rohoS Ohor;s,ers and waists and nreIa,es IL
ao,od ,'i,rss ond ves,ments or nnrn,s and scarle,
ysh,o rnld and a1uree"oolden cdnsnrs exbai;ng al
,ba br rars,nes sn Of Arabia and solemn antinSon
r;sna from, uneor,hlv voices in more than eartbl,
lharnonv Noth;no of the mast here Won will sav
,ha ,,orooors nressnt absorhs conteIo,a,;on from
on,,S;ps. ~, hssIro or of,sr Indeed, Rn, Iooi,
;,;,o ";s ro,,r ev.s 70 ,he scr,n,,rad srsv
and aoS;tois 81 ,hat Lone droun oolonada
,n,, hohdna oo,rn,,. ana ontah,atnr.s ,ho, hov,
s,nd SUu a,,or roos. Won oro md ,ho dison,s'
d'nants os tha oId ,cmn,es Of Jnn;,ar S,a;or an,
vas,a anS p For,una v;r;s LooI cIoSor s,;,i in ,b
LA ''aI,. ,Easasaivos. Svho, traoo;nna 5s ,o sa
upon the marble blocksY The remains of a dec
t hpt tuo vorn ;D.crin,ion which sneas Of the ex
Uio;,a ns EnnarnrS and Corsn,s in dead Ianauone
' tho ,annare y, ns In,nor;aI and Consu,ar pnpss
III, ao n,s,hssS. ,ho op,ond;a yss,nsn,s % thos
r.s,s ara oo.o CONF Of these in which csr,nre
. s .o.. ~ sn;n", - a H.. nr;as,,
.no a,'.n', snio,n, ,hronh ,ha ,ann,os
IS s"ep. ;a, svs pas ''Io"s" ss,,n s"r np.s o
h T",;oo I'M ,rhore n. cSurch Of ,Ss fsbe,