The daily gazette., 1878-11-16
ROME INUN DATED
the FLOOD IN THE TIBER.

Romx, Nov. 15,-The overflow OF the
Tber has inundated the Rpetta, the
Piazza Of the Pantheon, the Via Tardi-
nena, the Piazza Saint Angelo, the
Ghetto, and all the lower streets Of the
city.
Previous dispatches announced that
there had been violent storms through
out Central Italy, aud that the damage
caused by them is almest unparalleled.
? Travel on all-ths railways bstwsen kolne
and the north Is interrupted. The rain
had ceased &C Rome at iiiidmght, bur at
that hour the nber was vi u ri'ing rapid
ly, the banks OF the river having already
been overhowed and the lower porti On
of the citv inundated. IL was expected
that the waters would continue TO rise
during the night, and that the food
would become nearly as widespread rs
the disastrous one of 1870. The inhabi-
tants OF Rome never see the Tiber in
their streets without a disagreeable re-
membranee of its former tremendous
visits, accounts of which history has pre-
served. A Hood comes about every
twenty five or thirty years and the latest
ry destructive visitanon, in 1870, Is yet
fresh In their recollection. Although not
SO bad as some former inundations, il yet
covered great part of the city, and In
some places to aconsiderabIe depth. The
fierce current raD swiftly through the
streets rs If 1t would undermine thehouses
and had 1t not been for her seven hills
all Rome would have been under water.
1t was, however, not so high as ancient
inundations. the height and date Of which
are indicated on the marble hydrometer
at the Porto Ripetta. The first inunda-
ton of the Tiber mentioned in history
was 10y Livy In his seventh Book. The
Consuls were Gereo G-nuZio and Emilio
Mamerco. II was the year 800 of Rome.
In he years of Rome 543 and SAG Eutro-
Plus tells of an inundation that flooded
over the Circus Massimo, where there
stands now the Gasometer of the Via
del Fienile. Horace sings OF the one of
73i in the lines beginning "Vidi-
mus fiavum Tiberium." In A. d. 56
when Nero reigned, an inundation made
nearly all Rome naviRahle. In A. ID. 10,
in Vespasian's time, the waters extend
Ell twenty-seven miles out Of Rome.--
Under Hadrian, A. ID. 1l9, IL was feared
that the city might remain submerged.
The worst flood OF all was during the
days of Marcus Aurelius, in A. ID. 2z3. In
A. ID. III, under Gregory III, the whole
level Of the city was covered six feet
deep with water, and they sailed from
Ponte Molle over the streets to the steps
OF st. Peters. On that occasion the
wateis of the Tber entered the city with
such force that many ancient temples
and monuments were destr Dyed. The
flood OF l22O was followed by pesulence
| and poverty, 30 tnaL the people were
| frightened into recalling Gregory TX,
whom they had exiled. He returned and
rlieved III. poor, and then profted by
the occasion to make the first general
condemnation OF heretics and the first
| auto-da-fe, which took place in the
Piazza santa Maria Maggivre. AT ST.
| Maria Sopra Minerva, the utular Church
of the American Cardinal, you eau See a
| &c thic inscription on the wall that
chronicles the inundation of 1922, when
Martin V was Pope. That ore was
nearly Fix feet high. In 1888 occurred a
| food which was one of the most destrUc-
tive on record, and which carried deaf b
and destruction into the heart ct the city
| The severe inund itiou of 1905 is record
Ell in stone at Castle st. Angelo, St,
| Eustaccheo. PalaZZo Massimi, on the
Porto del Popolo facade, and IN many
olher places. ID 1860, when Alexander
VII was Pope, the inundation poured iu
50 suddenly tnat mau! artists and shop
keepers, as well as the poor who lived on
the low land of the city, were drowned
~ 50 IAany rats. The most severe mum
dations OF thia century We're those Of
Febtury ., 1908, when Plus VII was
= Pope; December 10, 1886, during the
reign of Pope Plus | X; and December
B, 1870. under Victor Emmanuel. On
December ., 1875, the city sustained a
serious fright from the advancing waters
and for two days and nights the gas was
burning in one quarter Of The city ,and nc
one &C uld turn 1t Off The ViaiRipetta
which lies along the left bank of th,
river, was filled with boats moving abou
from house TO house IKE the gonuols o.
: Venice. The Pantheon was submerged
and the excavations which were thei
making i'll tie streets surrounding /
| | We're lake, over which temporary briuge
were constructed, Some streets in til,
Ghetto suffered, and thc poor Jews VIII,
!; inhablt the ground floors were obliged /,
| leaYe Their little shops and take refug
else" here until the waters subsided.
0 A general inundation like that of 1877
> WAS feared, and II was a rellef when th,
swollen river retired within It's bank.
u The Tiber rises in Tuscany, near the b,
J. ginning of the Arno, and it wander
about, collecting the waters of one tribr
tary after another, without attaining an
= great SIZE until II enters the Roman pr oN
Il ince. The Nera, that river which r,
ceives the Velino, falling over the mouI
u tains and forming the beautiful caJaraG
II at Terni, is one OF its tributaries Oni
few miles above Rome it receives th
e Aniene, a river of some size, which fir,
v at TvoIi, eighteen miles distant, is mad
, like the cataract at Terni, to fall owe
l. tho mountain by artificial means for IL
lie purpose of draining the surroundiu
m country. These two lovely cataracts ,
~ TERM and Tivoli are universally a,
y mired, and the scenery around them
le exquisIteiy beautiful. The entrance ,
the Aniene near the cry of Rome
thought to be one of the causes, If u
n the chief cause, of the frequent inund
=, tioons. When tue SHOWS of the App
mines melt in the Velino, the Nera al
other tributary streams, and the wint
90 rains swell them to the brim, the Tlb
is already too full to receive the additio
OF al waters of the Auiene, without oye
IN flowing, as it does, into Rome. II
=, Pantheon, the Ghetto, aud The Via i
I'll petta, which are low, are inundated 4
FL most every year. Various schemes {
an remedyins the evil have bsen discuss
eli from time TO time, hut nothing Of al
IL practi Sal value has been attempted, a.
nd Rome Is as much at the mercy of {
i" "tawny Tiber" now AZ it was in the da
es, of Horace.-Telerdph.
In