The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1875-04-01

Orange is the gigantic wall of its theatre
In the general view of the city II scars
over every object. tsheight and length
alike dwarf every existing object; the am
phitheatre may have been lis rival, but
the amphitheatre has utterly perished
to point out the site Is as much as the
local antiquary cal do, The theater
reigns without rival. Itnot only reigns
without rival over every other building
in It's own neighborhood; 1t reigns none
the less without rival over every other
building of its own class which ! have as
yet had the good luck to see. In Rome
itself there are the mighty arcades OF the
theater of Marcellus, but they have yet
TO be cleared of the base invaders which
have uuartered themselves within them
and we miss the great feature of Orange,
the vast straight hall AT Aries the two
perfect columns and the two broken ones
by their side give us a more perfect IDEA
Of the decorative part OF Roman theater
than Orange itself But at Aries the
straight wall has vanished, and of the
curved walls there ia hardly SO much re-.
naming as at Orange. AtArlesit is only
NJ that point where the arcades had been
turned into a towerthat the arcade them
selves remain in any degree of perfection.
AS far us have seen, there is no build
ing of the kind 10 compare with II as
whole, and il loses nothing of its majesty
because 30 large part of the curved lines
of its seats were actually wrought in the
hin that soars above it, The most per-
feet part, the wall which faces the city, is
imposing from its mere bulk. Strictly as
work of architecture, there is perhaps
no particular beauty in its sfour stages, one
of which is left blank, while the upper
one served merely to support the masts
which held up the awning. But the truth
is that this vast wall was not designed to
sand as we now see it, as single mass
rising from theground, As it stood when
perfect, it must have looked like one SIDE
of the nave of vast minister, with It's
aisle and and clerestory. 1t is easy to
see that there was an arcade in advance
of the great wall, and the plain second
stage was in fact covered by a slipping
roof Above this a long range ofsmaller
round-headed arches forestalls the clereS'
tories of Pisa and Lucca'
Close by tie theater, forming IN iact
one architectural arch with it, was the
circus with its semi-circular end, like
that of the theatre, hewn out OF the NIL.
Its length seems to have spread itself
along the whole eastern side OF the
modern town, stretching as far as far
as the brigade which divides the city u
self from the suburb which contains the
triumphal arch, and which most likely
also contains the resting place OF the
traveller But of the side walls OF the
circus the remains are small indeed, AT
one point an ancient arch spans mar
row street the wayfarer for moment
fancies that he is going out by some gate
way or postern; he is in truth passing
under one of the arches of the clrcus.-
Nevertheless more is left of the circus OF
Orange than of either the Circus Maxi
mus or Circus Agonals of Rome. 1t is
part of the charm of Orange that Its re.
mains chiefly consist of monuments OF
which we find so few equally perfect
specimens elsewhere. The small scraps
which vet survive OF the circus OF orange
have no parallels at Aries, at Mines, or
at Vienna.
The other great Roman monument oil
Orange is again one which has no com
petitor among the buildings oflhe Rhone-
land, and not many north of the Alps,
This is the Roman arch, the so-called
triumphal arch, through or around which
the traveller will pass if he cnances to en-
ter Orange from the north. spokeJust |
now of the arches of Aosta, Riminl, ana |
Ancono but the arch Of Orange really be-
longs to another class; it aspires toa place
alongside of the arches of Seyerus and
Constantine. That is to say, while the |
other arches-aliketh the'tall slender arch |
of Traian on the harbor Of Ancona, and |
the bold arches which span the road or
street at Rimini and Aosta-haye but
single opening, like the arches Of Drusus,
of Titus, and GalIienus, the arch of Or
ange boasts of the full compliment of
three .-MclGiLan'S Magazine