The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-11-04
ROMAN Treasures

ROMAN MEASURES
Precious Souvenirs of Past Ages hat Lie
Buried Beneath Modern Ron he.
Beneath the soil of the EterrE u City
are myrlads of yet undisc,yeu ID SOU
venirs of Rome's great past. Above
the soil each day develops one a more
reminders of certain human chaE acter-
istics which accentuate Italy's pre- sent.
But every thing in its place-so 10 us
talk in the first place of the bur led
| treasure-trove.
have never kept a list of the price
less relics that are being brought tA'
light nearly every week. but l know,
| if / had, that for a single year it would
prove long one. And this thing has
been going ON for years, perhaps ten
wears. Since the City of the Caesars,
in the days of the Unification, imbibed
the lotion of perennial youth, and has
taken on new lease of life, buildings
have sprung up on every side, and
streets have beer cut through old villa
and palace properties that had Sum-
| bered in LATEST luxury for centuries.
All this has necessitated digging, and
the Forty-niner's pick and spade in the
gold-fields were never as sure OF strlk-
| ing ore as the Rom an excavators have
ali along been of eahuming something
as good as gold If the stock in the
capitol keeps on r'plenishing at the
| rate it has been, a museum will soon
be needed half as big as the town itself.
/ can't begin to tell you what they
have exhumed in recent years. Pagan
gods, ancient beauties, Emperors with
| out number, statesmen and warriors
have come up again to the top of earth's
| crust in every known metal or material
| which sculptors ever heWed at or
| nodded. They have awakened from
their long nap, and hoped out into
| the air minus perhaps leg or an arm,
| and frequently lacking a nose with
| which to sniff modern times. Indeed.
it not rarely happens that statue has
lost his or her head-auite after the
fashion of some nowadays people.
And, what to me is singular, research
doesn't always succeed in finding the
missing member or head-pieo,. There
are quantities of archeolo gists in
Rome, and some of them world famous,
who have very practical theories as to
the reason of such and such tisap-
pearance; but it is purely conjecture, of
course, and 1 prefer to speculate for
myself as to the why and wherefore. 1t
is bewildering subject. just think of
all the soil beneath this big city being
peopled with such marble spectres.
Science may satisfactorily explain
every thing, but Imagination, less cold,
runs wild through that underneath re-
gion.
Recent papers report another discov-
| ery. In digging the foundations of the
national bank over in the new Via
Nationals quarter several rich finds
have startled the savants. The latest
is the we'll preserved remnants of an
old Roman house, which. already they
say it, belonged to about the second
century of the Christian era. The walls
are decorated with paintings represent
ing columns and vases united by
borders of arabesque flowers and
fruits. The decorations largely help
the wise men to guess at the
date of construction of the ancient
mansion; but, curiously enough, in the
present case there is a singular admix-
ture of the Christian and profane.
some of the walls portraying Biblical
subjects, while others commemorate
| incidents in the lives of BacchuS and
his merriest contemporaries. One
large wall space is devoted to Es-
culapius. Another feature of this
most recent elimination is tomb well
filled with human bones-a fact which
puzzles the modern student, in view of
l La hot Ioxxy
forbade interment within the walls of
| the city.
There have been several other dis.
coveries of similar character, and dig
on whatever side you will of this won
decful old town the labor will always
be rewarded / once thought serio-
ously of buying one property on the
outskirts of the city solely for the pur-
pose of diving down into wonderland
and hunting for treasures. / really
thought it would be good invest
ment, so greedily does the world yearn
for these art treasures. / changed my
mind. however, when / ascertained
that all these gems, found by whomso-
ever they were, and on property be-
longing to whomever it might be, re-
verted to the city of Rome. How rap
idly and how marvelously her store
houses of art are being furnished these
days! And yet whoever comes to
Rome, and leaves wondering at what
he sees of antiquity S mementos, should
consider that he has walked above, yet
never seen, treasures greater and
richer far than the guide-book tell of
in the museums.-Rome Cor. PhilGdel.
| s,b;n TpIenynnb