The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1875-12-31

where Hlle Htttl lived ~ latest ACCOUNTS.
n venerable specimen Of the royal bar
barian,
Nubtrrraacaa Ilome.
"A discovery IT great historical I'M
pprtanee has just been lnada while
digging IN opening IN The new VIA
Nasiotale NJ Rome. In the grounds Of
the ralaasu Antonelli was found a pnt-
'rulltuH, about go A. g. Thia was.
doubtless. bivy'H foyn Fbntina'is.
which led ~ Ar MdrHs" 81.
IL Ia pitnlt discoveries aa this uitti
they ate now III very frequent oocttt-
renee which completely u,Hct the the
ory Or certain German critics ~ high
,enute, TINT whnt In called the early
history OF Rome In pothing more. than
u collection ~ myths woven out ~ pure
fancy. with hardly u shred Ut sobet
truth Ia sustain them,
That there In vaHt deal OF fiction IN
tiyy Ia apparent ~ every person who
inteilipently rr.,dA htH pictured page =
but that everything he has told ns oon
ccrning the hrst period 1T Roman dc.
i tssiins raiE 3Sod. 40 Intelligent
reader can be 1nade % believe.
tivy WA compelled by the ne.
ceaHities ~ the case 10 trust largely
10 tradition, and unqucstiona.
bly, he was frequently mislcd
thereby. but The central facts trans
mittrd 10 him through this channel.
and by him to ts, are constantly reccivA
Ing confirmation from the ttttitipeneii.
able testimony produced by the pick .as
and shovel, The more Rome Ia dug
over and into the clearer does u begoinr
that the era " thr kings aud of the
republic did not differ materially from
what was generally supposed before The
critics aFurrHaid began theft demolition
ot accepted history,
M ono can fully realize. without care.
yul pcrHonnl inspection. how inurl, ol
the Eternal City Ii underground, TAKE
the Forum AH an illustration, THIS was
of course. the very centre aud heart
not only " tho city. INT nf tbeniHl,ty
empire which sprung from u. Fol
nearly thousand years tho lava
matted from the narrow valley that
divided the palatine aud tho Capitoline
hilia. and a. every Roman this valley
waa waa the most sacred spot on earth,
Certainly, Quo would thiuk. such spot
could not he practically thrust out 81
aiuht Nv the encroachtng soil yet this
waa III fate until ~ period Within tho
memory or ncn now living. For many
centuries tho very uail,e Itself
Disappeared, and the place which
had once echoed Ia the tread OF Cseaat
and rung with tho voice OF Cicero. br
came the Campo Tacctno, or cattle
field, Filled ~ by. the a.cu,nu'nted
dirt and debris nwept into II by the iiery
l'hreath of ruin. the EbrHp, Momentum
wns transformed into a verdaht n,cndow,
loH ia identity. aud sunk into whnt
threatened to be- an everlasting %
ltvion,
Even aa late IA Byron,.a day there was
little "a tell of the gloriea buried he'
meath the Campo Vaccine. "Chtlde
uarold'a" aplendid verse speaks ot
"rhc nnmeiraa column with the buried
base I" and ma until 1919 wae II known .
NV excavations made ut The expense ~
the Duchess Of Devonshtre that tina
column WAS raised by the EAalsl, Siila
rnpth,a. III d0S. u the Emperor PhooaA,
Chiefly through the generosity and
energy OF the French Government the
greater part of tho Forum X now laid
bare, aud when the visitor. standing
upon the stones az the Via Sacra along
which 40 many laurelcd conuuefots
have marched ia triumphal procession
u The temple Of Jupiter Caritolinus,
looks up Ia the modern street twenty
five feet above him. he call then
understand how much OF old Rome II
literally hidden Ia the grave.
What has been done In the Forum mas
been done even more euectualiy e's.-
where. Al the foot Of tho Palatine hill,
On the sidc toward the Tiber, stands the
church of st. Anastasia. The present
structure was built In 1850. aud proba-
bly ID had, Que OF, more predecessors
erected an tho sumo FOUNDATIONS. What
was under these foundations nobody
know, until 1854, when u monument was
being put up to Cardinal Mai, the ccle-
brated librarian of the Vatican.
The workmen, digging deep To secure
"A firm foothold for the stately marble,
struck upon an old wall whose existence
had never before been suspected. The
discovery was promptly followed W 10y
careful archaeological investigation
and now. we believe. II ~ conceded ny
the best authorities that this old,
aid wall under the church of st. Anas-
tnsia. under tho broken arches or the
pnlaco of the Caesars, upon which tho
church itself was built, ~ none other
than the yeritable wall OF Romulus. 1t
has always been admitted that the iirst
settlement of Rome was on the Ialatinc
that here the wolf-nursed children first
pitched their camp, and planted the
humble seed from whence grew the
colossal tree whose. branches over
Swallowed half u hemisphere.
Livy says that this camp was sur.
rounded BY a wall, and the remains oi
the wall have been found precisely
where they ought to be IL the historian, I
account is correct, II gives one y curl
Gus closeness TO the far-off past TO SO
down into those dismal Vaults where
makes the terrible darkness visible,
and lay hand upon the sombre, Shiny
stones which stood fresh in the3bright
sunlight when Rome was young. The
massive slabs have endured their long
interment wonderfully we'll.
No mortar or cement holds them to
gethcr. but the joints are SO nicely fitted
| that a knife blade can scarcely be push
cd between them, and the venerable
relic bids fair to outlnst the shocks oil
another twenty-five hundred years
pnn,,I,,c x,uo ovi1autlv n GOOD Supsr.