The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1884-08-09
SATURDAY. AUGUST 9. 1884.
The Gardens Of Rome.


Rome is the city Of gardens. Where
else can we recall such masses OF ever
green verdure. such thfckets Of aloe
and lentisk, such groves of umbrage-
GUS pines, empowering the vast and
stately palaces within the wallsp
While the villas beyond their stern
enclosure are set in clipped silences of
box and yew, and shaded by solemn
groves of lick and bay, others Qike the
Wolkonsky) are spanned by huge ruins
of aqneduct or bridge, ivy-clad or
tangled with roses, and starred with
anemone and cyclamen in lavish and
lovely profusion. And all alike are
vocal with murmurous flow of tinkling
waters and fantastic shapes of Triton
and Nereid; the maidenhair mantles,
the marble basins with its delicate
fronds, and the sunshine steals through
the boughs and the fancy conjures up
the SYLVAN goat-footed gods, dancing
to wild clash of cymbal and horn,
upon the level lawns, while Hemadry-
ads crouch and listen amid their leafy
boughs. The Church of ST. Sabina
has appropriated the site and stately
marble columns set up in honor of the
gods. The great. st. Dominic once
abode in the adjoining convent and
planted a certain orange tree, still Wig
orous and green, and covered with
flowers and fruit. Hither, too, fled st.
Thomas Aquinas, pursued by his moth
er's tears and lamentations to the very
door of the monastery; and within the
walls of the church St Gregory read
his famous Homilies, for the building
dates from the fourth century, as an
inscription In mosaic testities. st. Sa-
bna lies beneath the altar.
The Ludovisi gardens, widely rang
ing and richly planted, offer rs their
proud contribution to Roman heritages
Guercino's beautiful fresco of the Dawn
driving her horses up the pearly slopes
of heaven. The light of the newborn
gently lifts her hair; flowers are scat
tered beneath her chariot wheels. Be-
fore her speed the flying Hours, bear
ing their unknown gifts to men:
1.-The slow sweet hours that bring us all things
The slow sad hours that bring us all things
ILL.,"
Behind the car, the beautiful Genius
of the Day, bearing the torch, occupies
one of the alcoves of the summer house.
Opposite sits woman with book on
her knee, sleeping child beside her,
and around her fit the wide winged
birds of night.
The gallery of statuary boasts the
Ludovisi Juno, colossal, stately, divine
ly fair. Silence reigns upon her parted
lips; the calm of majestic repose rests
har nd Haro
'that large utterance of the earthly
GODS which, when she speaks, will
compel us to silence. In the ampler
Mther, amid which she is wont to dwell,
what knows she of our world of petty
woe? where. as old Hesiod puts il. "by
day as well as by night. diseases I'M
hidden haunt mankind, silently bearing
ills to men," But of all these her
colossal loneliness knows nothing. save
"that the gods themselves cannot recall
their gifts,' and time is one. Such is
the Ludovisi Juno But who that has
ever visited the Villa Albani can, If he
would, forget that fragment of Greek
culture there, so jealousy preserved
that has relief, | mean, of Mercury
Withdrawing Eurydice from her bus-
bands armsP Words can give no idea
of the tender grace of the attitudes, OF
the truth, the nature, the pathos OF
these figures. Her hand rests upon his
shoulder; his clasps hers with such
passion of affection that the messenger
of the gods, though he relaxes not his
grasp, yet by slight movement OF his
entwining arm expresses that he gazes
not unmoved upon their tender and en-
&c. IL T..o mi
should be, if it is not, the despair of the
modern world. as it is truly one of the
most consummats triumphs OF genius
and art.
But the Doria Pamphili gardens sum-
mons us to gather cyclamen and hya-
cinth amid their shades and waters and
groves and lawns. This was once the
garden of CALI, and upon the green
and level lawn Stands little heather
altar representing the Plus Antonius
Imp, sacrificing to his household gods.
No sod here is ever turned or soil re-
moved, but fragments of sculpture, sar-
cophagi, busts and cippi or funeral urns
are brought to light; and the columbaria
are singularly interesting and perfect
In a square chamber approached by
stair and door are the many inches,
each of which contains in its pictured
urn the ashes and half-consumed bones
of some dead and gone Roman of I'm
perial time. The walls are ornamented
with graceful arabesques of bird and
flower and genii and fruit. A group Of
dwarfs disturbed in their antics by
crocodile advancing from lake is curl
ously grotesque. In an instant we are
transported back some twenty centuries
as we linger over the sharply cut and
graceful Inscriptions to the conjux dull
cissime, or the loved and lamented fill
ct filie of those long past days Within
a single recess several cippi are not I'M
frequently accommodated, with praise
worthy economy of space. 1t is said
that extensive catacombs range from
these princely gardens to Rome, Of
which the view, seen through the stems
of the pines and lex groves, is one OF
the most delightful imaginable, and
prompts one to exclalm, with Shelley:
30 Romel o life. . time,
On whose last steps climb,
When will return the glory of your primer
London Society.