Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-12-19
THE HERALD.
EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENCE.
ROME.
From Orr Own Correspondent.


To see Rome well takes months,
aud to write of it is matter of vol
umes, not single letter, and so we
can hope to only glance at some of
the most striking features and record
general impressions.
Following our own inclinations as
well as the customs of travellers, we
go at once to st. Peters, crossing the
Tiber directly opposite the castle of
st. Angelo, on a massive stone bridge
of five arches, built by the Emperor
Hadrian, more than 100 years ago.
We were sadly disappointed in the
Tiber. When we recalled all we had
read of this grandly historic river, the
pride OF the ancient Roman, we were
hardly prepared TO see a small, mud
dy, common place sort Of a stream,
creeping along at a snairs pace to-
ward the ocean. .Macaulay's " Hora-
thus at the Bridge" has lost much of
its cham for us now aud is more than
ever poem of the Imagination. The
castle was originally huge cylindrl.
cal structure covered with marble, on
which a colossal statue of Hadrian
was placed. This was built by him
Tor aaomb, and contained the family
cinerary urns. 1t was converted into
fortress as early as when the Gotbs
beseiged Rome, and the beautiful
statues which adorned its summit
were hurled upon the heads of the in.
vaders. At present it is used as fort
and is connected with the Vatican by
an underground passage nearly three
fourths of mile long.
The approach to st. Peters, with
its great elliptical colonades, is grand
and impressive beyond description,
and forms most striking introduce
ton to the largest church in the
world. In the centre of the large
open space in front of the church is
the great obelisk which was brought
to Rome by the mad Emperor Callg.
ula and set up in the Circus of Nero.
The church itself is reputed to have
been founded by the Emperor Con.
stantine on the spot where st. Peter
suffered martyrdom, and contains the
brazen sarcophagus of that Apostle.
The present building, which was
planned by the great Michael Angelo
and has cost more than $4,000, 900,
was dedicated exactly 1900 years la.
ter than the first structure, 1t is the
largest hut not the most beautiful
church in the world. Some idea of
its size may be gained from the fact
that it covers over three acres of
ground, is $50 feet long, 209 wide,
465 high, aud has 200 windows, 800
statues, As affairs and 74S columns.
Large as it is, its gigantic dome is
three feet less in diameter than that
OF the Pantheon, which was built 27
b. G. and is yet standing in perfect
repair, and three buildings Just like it
could be placed within the outer wall
OF the Colosseum. In the dome are
mosaics, Of heroic size, of the four
EvangelSts. st. Luke is writing with
a pen seven feet long, yet from the
pavement il looks only about the size
of full grown lead pencil.
AT the base of one of the pillars ia
the famous sitting statue Of st. Peter,
in bronze, whose great toe has been
worn away by contact with the lips
of devotees. The statue is said to
have originally been one of Jupiter,
and was taken from heather temple
and dedicated to st. Peter.
In the centre of the cross beneath
the dome, rises the beautiful and
costly canopy under which, and i'm
metliately over the tomb of st. Peter,
is the altar from which the Pope ONLY
reads mass on high festival occasio ms.
Beneath this, and reached by double
flight of marble stairs, is the va nit
which contains the sarcophagus of
the apostle.
The remains of Plus TX had rece Mt.
ly been placed in the Popes' niche in
The wall of the church where the
bodies Of all the Popes are PLACED
tempoi arily. We can only add that
the longer one wanders through this
great cathedral and examines it in
detail. the more the impression of its
vastness grows upon HIM
Probably there is no place in Eu-
rope where centers so much of inter.
est as upon the little parallelogram,
less than q thousand feet in its great
est dimensions, known as the Roman
Forum. Around us on every side we
see ruins of temples, public buildings
and triumphal arches. Here are three
columns where was once the magnifi-
cent temple OF Castor and Pollux,
near il the foundation of the temple of
the Deified Julius erected on the spot
where Caesars body was cremated by
the pop1lace after the funeral Grafton
by Mark Antony, which is so graph
cally described in Shakespeare's "Ju-
Inns Caesar" There are identified
remains of the temple of Vespasian,
the Tabularium or great Record Of
fec of ancient Rome, the temple of
Saturn, the old Rostrum from which
orators addressed the people and at
one end of which was the central
milestone Of the Roman Empire, and
shapeless mass of concrete, all that
remains OF the famous temple of Yes.
Ia, founded by one of the earliest
kings OF Rome. On the Forum are
also the remains of the great building
erected by Julius in which the public
business was transacted. In the
marble floor of the portico and in the
steps figures and holes are cut in
which the boys of Rome played
games.
An excavation has been made be.
low the ancient level of the Forum,
and in one place the Cloaca Maxima
is seen. which was built $500 years
ago to drain the low land back of the
Forum, and which is perfect and in
use now. Through the midst of the
Forum can be seen the Via Sacra, the
street along which victorious generals
entered the city in triumph and as
cended the Capitoline hill just beyond.
Many of the great stones with which
it was paved are yet in position,
showing deep ruts worn by the wheels
of passing carts.
On tho Capitoline hill was the