St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-12-19

shrubbery of Monte Pincio and Borg
hese and other villas are interposed.
But the remains of old fortresses and
clrcuses and aqueducts greet us as we
approach the walls, and we are half
convinced that this is really Rome.
Inc first three days of our stay in
Rome we devote to the study of it's ruins
under the guidance of Mr.. Shakespeare
wood, the well-known Rome cores
pondent of the London Times. Mr.. w.
mas resided here for twenty eight years,
Is an artist of no mean repute, and an
authority on all matters of archaeology.
FOR preliminary discipline we visited
the Vatican, particularly to see its i'm
mense museum of sculpture, mosaics,
and other antiquities. In the afternoon
we go past the fountain of the Trevi
and the column of Trajan to the COlos-
scum. This is a mighty ruin, huge
skeleton, stripped of its marble plat
forms and steps and seats, bare of spec
tatOrs, gladiators, wild beasts, and per-
secuted Christians, yet with its dens,
and arches and broad arena SO suggest
i've of its former use that the imagina-
tion-especially if one has visited We
rona's more perfect mphitheatre-easi-
ly supplies what once the Roman eye
beheld. Think of the energies of the
state concentrated upon the amuse
ments and tOrtures witnessed here, and
think of the taste that rioted on scenes
of blood and slaughter for mere wan
tonDess. We gaze with wonder and a
sort of admiration on the stupendous
structure that would seat 81 900 specta
tors we shudder at the thought of
what they saw. The grosser material
is in this case superior to the inmate
rial that created it. Men built larger
than they knew, and built grander than
themselves.
A few yards distant is the arch of
Constantine marking the beginning of
the Appian Way, and, little on to-
wards the Forum, the arch of Titus
which commentaries his conquest of
Jerusalem. The former of these is evil
IDENTITY constructed of materials taken
from an arch erected in the time of
Trajan, since the stones are covered
with inscriptions glorifying the earlier
emperor. The latter has for its preser-
walton been encased in large blocks of
travertine, but on the inside the origi-
nal decorations, representing Titus in
his triumphal chariot and the procession
of captive Jews with the table, shew-
bread, and seven branched candlestick
from the inner sanctuary of the temple,
still remain distinct and clear. A little
to the left is the twin apse of double
temple erected by Hadrian, also a bit
of the foundation of the pedestal of
colossal statute of Nero III feet high,
and three magnificent arches of church
built by the Emperor Constantine early
in the fourth century. We then visit
circular temple dedicated to Vesta, an
oblOng one called Fortuna Virilis and
said to be the oldest entire building in
Rome, next, an old house built of mar
bles of several kinds and of varied
workmanship, and so without doubt
erected out of the ruins of earlier struct-
ures, and, after viewing the outlet and
termination of the Cloaca Maxima, the
famous drain of Roman republican days,
end the afternoon by seeing the side of
the Theatre of Marcellus, and portion
of the pOrtico erected by Augustus and
named for his sister Octavia. This
Marcellus was the son of Octavia, and a
youth of rare promise. Virgil in the
last of the sixth book of the Eneid
sings his praises and laments his early
death. The side wall of the theatre
was made the wall of block of houses
and so has been preserved, but the in
terror was filled up with rubbish and
earth, houses have been built on the
top, and in one of them Niebuhr resid-
ed for many years while he was Prus-
sian ambassador at Rome.
A second day was spent among the
ruins of the Forum and the Palatine
Hill. 1t would be quite impossible
with the mere pen to give any intelli-
gible and satisfactory account of the
present state of these interesting places.
Suffice it to say that the discoveries of
the last fifteen years in both these To-
calities have been of great Importance
to the students of art and history, The
exact position of the ancient Forum
and of the streets and the buildings
which surrounded it, the architecture
of these buildings and some fragments
OF the structures themselves, the very
rOstrum from which Cicero and Mark
Antony addressed the populace, the
foundations and portions of the
walls of the palaces of Augustus
Caesar, of Tiberius, of Nero, and of
Domitian-for each built new and more
magnificent residences than his prede-
cessors,-have in these last years been
distinctly revealed. 1t is worthy of
note, also, that for these recent addi-
tions to archaeological science we are
chiefly indebted to Napoleon III of
France. In 1861 he purchased the
whole of the Palatine and until his alb
dication there were carried on at bis ex-
pense, under the direction of Signor
Rosa, careful and systematic excava-