The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1878-02-20
Victor Emanuel and the Pantheon.

DIR. Prime, editor of the N. Y. Observer,
writes from Italy:
"The moment it was proposed to bury
the Kng in the Pantheon, and to make that
temple the royal msusoeum of modern It
ally, l thought of the cycles in which the
world moves, and the ceaseess repetitiohs Of
successive ages. 1t is long, long
time since Rome had king to die. The
last of the Roman Emperors was R,mulus
Augustulus, whose reign and dynasty closed
A. D 476. There is no royal mausoleum
10 Rome. The dust of the Enperors is
blown about the streets. The sepulchre of
Augustus is circus. This ruin was once
lofty marble tower, with successive tiers of
chambers, each of which was the tomb of
member of the royal family. Here was
placed that Marcellus whom Virgil cele-
brstes. Agripps, also, and Octavia, at
whose funeral her brother, the Emperor Au-
gustus, delivered an grafton: Augustus him
self, by whoa and for whom it was reared,
died in the year of our Lord IA, and his
corpse was burnt on this spot: when the fun
eral pile was set on fire an eagle was let
loose. aud Roman Senator was induced by
$50 600 to make oath that be saw the soul
of Augustus fly up to heaven at that mo-
ment. Tiberius, the second Emperor, Cali.
gua, the third, Claudius, the fourth, Nero,
che fifth, and Nerva, the twelfth Emperor,
we're here buried, and many ilustrious wo-
men as well as men connected with the impe-
rial families.
The Castle of St. Angelo was the mauso-
leum of Hadrian, the Emperor who began it
during his reign, A. D. 117-138. He died
at Ba e near Naples, but his successor, An
toniuus, founded the tomb, brought Ha-
drian's remains here, and was himself buried
10 the same -Four Emperors after them, clos
ing with Caraoalla in A. D. 217, finished the
royal line that had this magnifcentse pulchre.
No sooner was the King of Italy, Victor
Emanuel, dead, than it became serious
Question where to lay his remains. Angus
tus and Hsdrian and all those royal prede-
cessors of the late King we're burnt and their
ashes preserved in urps. We do not burn
our dead. But the Christian religion teach
ing the resurrection of the body has inspired
US with regard for the material form in
which the soul once dwelt. 1t would be mis-.
cradle taste, aud no one would for moment
think of it, to make the mausoleum of Au.
gustus or of Hsdran the tomb of the Chris.
tian King, Victor Emanuel. But it was very
natural to think of the Pantheon, already
converted from heather temple into a
Christian church, and ballowed by the ashes
of many princes in the realm of art, and
among them Raphael, worthy of being their
King.
II is the best preserved of the Pagan tenn
Piles. Like the Pantheon of Athens, it is q
model which the artists of the world come to
study. Agrippa built it twenty seven years
before the Christian era It was dedicated
to the Universal God and in its centre stood
a statue of Jove. 1t is circular, 143 feet in
diameter, covered by dome, with an open
ing in the apex, about 30 feet across, through
w6ich the sun and sky appear, and the rains
of heaven have come down upon the floor
nearly Two thousand years. 1t is within
reach of the overflow of the Tiber, and
sometimes the temple is a lake with ten feet
of water in it, but the ravages of time and
frequent deluges have wrought little change
10 the temple itself.
1t is doing no violence to existing institu,
lions or traditions to convert the Pan heon