The Portland daily press., 1888-06-18
ANCIENT ARIES.
Ruins Of Roman MagnIficence In the
Old Seat of the vIsigoths.
Correspondence of the Press.l

PARIS, May LIST, 1888.
had often been told about the quaint old
Roman ruins at Aries, but had no idea Of
their real quaintness and interest, until that
beautiful March day when we got off the
train at station which to us New England
ers would seem to be a suburban village,
some mile or two from the city proper. My
friend and / decided to walk from the sta
tion, leaving the rest Of the party to seek by
omnibus the Hotel du Nord, hotel which
we had picked out hit or miss from the guide
book.
And so we started off through the narrow
dirty streets, up through which we could see
only narrow passage to the skies. They
had told us Aries was a dirty place, ard we
certainly did not find 1t clean; with its black
pools of water In the uneven erevices Of the
crooked streets, it formed a picture very
different from what we,',ad seen in Monte
Carlo and Nice and n yany ,ther PLACES which
we had Just visited N the Mediterranean.
But before TO late of the wonderswhich
we iour a in this. after all, gem OF Pro
"" 80, town. 1 must speak somethins It's
-.lc"a '' II was the Arelate of the ane nts,
I'd at one time the metropons =, 'ne
! rar,s tits situated on inc s,, iels 80" "
|, .so phoue after it has divided i'sen y =
S,.a Then is also canai oonnons
u aelss ,.h The suthern coast. IL was .ne az
W. prefect under the Romans ana wsn
ol stth cent,sy the home Of tnat Euri0i
"a. az ut9 NJ -aholfter assassinating MS oror
Iheodorie, VINO Had gained the kingdoE
assassinatlng still anothsI-r- brother, mad
brilliant and most successful sover-~sreign. L
as fratricide in those days was no uncol ssull
stepping stone to throne, IL did not destroy
his influence He extended the power. of the
Visigoths and introduced arts of civilization.
But Immediately after Eurick the kingdom
of the Visigoths declined and although at
times since 1t has been flourishing seat OF
commerce, Aries Is at present dull place
with nothing except its old ruins more inter-
esting. than It's silk and brandy and tobacco
manufactures.
After walking for awhile in the direction
which we had seen the omnibus take, we es-
pled through an opening of q street parallel
10 ours, what seemed to be part of an old
ruin. Little dreaming how absorbing our
interest In the old place would become in the
ensuing h0ur, we directed our steps toward
It. | hardly know how to descrise what is
SO old and so inexplicable. They call It an
arena Dut 1t Is coliseum, only third in I'M
pOrtance 10 the one in Rome, but II possesses
strange interest which many a frequented
and more popular ruin has failed to excite.
1t has its origin back to period some fifty
years before Christ. We entered through a
broad porch under wall, corroded and
eaten away in all its parts by the work Of
time only, and we emerged into the arena
beyond. The whole amphetheatre IS 1--WE
hundred yards in circumference and 1t Is SO
immense that it looks as If in itself 1t might
have been walled city. At different times
in the early centuries it was used us strong
hold by the Goths and Romans, and at a
more recent period it has served the purpose
of hamlet for the poor classes, having had