The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1874-11-26
TIE COLOSSEUM AT ROME.
from the London News.I

world. There have been in every coun-
try times when atrocious and horrible
p-nishments were devised, slow ways of
tearing life bit by bit from the body, n
genious and fendish means for prolong-
ing and intensifying pain till the sufferer
could feel no more. Bus the punish
! ment and torture was meant to be re-
| garded with horror. In Rome alone
! they became the favorite spectacles of
the people, and IL was through the de-
based rulers Of the empire that Zero
cious craving for sights Of suffering was
cultivated and developed. On the arena
Of the Colosseum not only did gladiators
fight with each other and prisoners with
lions, but dramas were enacted, the plots
! Of which were taken from some we'll
known tale Of antiquity. They were
plays which required no Ebretto, because
the story was known by every one Of
the $4,000 spectators. And they had
/ the great and absorbing interest that
nothing was acted, all was reality; and
the catastrophe, eagerly expected, was
not simulated. The hapless actor who
had to wear the shirt of Nessus, knew
that when he put it on, lined and smeared
| with pitch, il would be set fire to, 50 that
he should represent the torture Of the
dying hero. Act3aon knew that the dogs
wonld be loosed upon him when the
time came, and would tear him to pieces
amid the applause Of the people. Medea
| stabbed her children corum populo !;
Dirce acted her part, knowing that she
would be tied by the hair to the horns
OF bull, who would drag her ill she
died. This was the favorite spectacle OF
the Romans, gentle and simple. Such
shrieks, such shouts Of applause have
echoed from these walls as no other the
atre has ever heard such tragedies have
| enacted as no other theater has ever
dreamed Of. The citizens were insatia-
BILE; Tie roads that led to Rome were
thronged with prisoners coming to take
part in the sports the old could at least
be torn by the beasts; the young could
fight. And these sports continued four
hundred years, until the Emperor Hon
orious stopped them. Later on they
were partially revived, but only for COM
bats Of beasts, by Thedoric, and a bull
fight was held SO late as 800 years ago,
at which the MODEST OF the Romans
fought Since then the Colosseum has
rested in silence.
a whole literature has grown up
around this great amphitheatre, the mod
ern aspect of which has hitherto presep-
ted insuperable diffcultiesin any attempt
at understanding the old accounts. For,
if it were true that wild beasts could be
let loose by hundreds, and prisoners by
thousands if, also the arena could be
flooded with water, SO as TO admit of the
representation Of q sea-fght, in which
all was real, except the hostility Of the
combatants, by what means were the
beasts kept ready and loosed upon their
prey? where were the prisoners kept
SO as not to interfere with the audience?
and how was the water drained off after
every sea fight? Partial excavations
were commenced 60 years ago, but were
discontinued after q short time. They
made confusion more hopeless by reveal
ing number Of walls below the surface
running about IN various directions, and
seeming to answer no purpose. But
within the last few months, Signor Rosa
has commenced fresh excavations on a
scientific plan, and ON a large scale, and
has already been enabled, by his discov-
cries, to settle most of the disputed
points. The proper level Of the ground
is twenty-one feet below the present sur
face. The arena itself has been found,
with the original f'herring-bone" pave
ment, perhaps that laid by Titus. What
has hitherto been supposed the front Of
the podiun-the lowest wall separating
spectators from actors, is really the back
and, IN clearing away the new found
front, three great archways were discov-
cred which have already SO far been
cleared out as to show what was their
original purpose. These were the en-
frances of the actors. By these avenues
marched the morituri, sturdy prisoners
Of war or shrinking women; by those
their bodies were dragged away an hour
or two later. And below the arena, Sig
nor Rosa has found the great drain, the
cloaea, which carried away the water
used for the sea fights. In the corridors
still stand the bronze sockets on which,
perhaps, swung the doors which divided
the animals into their various groups
and there have been found marble slabs