The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-11-13

almost see the crowds of gentle Romans,
innocent beings, who thronged thevarious
galleries and with thumbs down, forced
the gladiator who had the other at his
4 mercy to kill him, that their thirst for
blood might be satisfied. u-.
4 We went out under the Arch of Con
stantine going out to the magnificent
church erected on the spot some way
outside the walls where Paul is said to
have been beheaded, passing on the way
the little chapel where Peter and Paul
are said to have taken leave of each
other. The great church is in the form
of cross, the long nave has fiat ceiling
most splendid with gold and carving, the
roof upheld by double rows of great
pillars of Egyptian polished granite, 50
in all, the capitals elegantly carved, and
at each side of the great doors is very
large alabaster pillar. The outer rows
., of granite pillars are . feet in diameter,
the inner rows 4. The high altar, uuder
which is Paul's tomb, was presented blythe
Emperor of Russia. and has large col
umns of alabaster uphOlding the canopy,
with bases of solid malachite. All
around the walls of the nave near the
ceiling are hundreds of portraits in
The floor is q wonderfully beautiful
piece of work, all of inlaid stone of
various eolors, as finely finished as the
top of small table would be, one dis
liked to step on it. The whole place was
lined with colored marbles, think it
the most magnificent church ever
beheld.
The adjoining building was a mon
astery and the clOisters are upheld by
the greatest variety of slender twisted
pillars, the most wonderful of the kind
in the world. Just outside the city walls
is the old church of st. Gregory, ap-
preached by fight of stone steps. At
the top of these steps Pope Gregory
stood and blessed st. Augustine, before
he started on his mission to the Britons,
the ancient heather inhabitants of Great
Britain, while the rest of the company
kneeled on the grass at the foot of the
steps. 1t is still used for services, and
it madeius feel exceedingly young, for
everything about it is just as it was so
many hundred years ago when this hap
pened. -. IN .E. |
Just inside the wall is small arch
built by Drusus, and which Caracalla
made use of to carry across the road the
acqueduct he built to supply his baths
with water. These baths are little out
of the city, and consist of the most
enormous masses of brick work, the
walls extremely thick, and many of
them still towering to great height.
The building or series of buildings, sew.
eral hundred feet square, has been ell
tirely excavated, so that the baths and
rooms can be seen just as they were
used. The baths became the great re-
sort or club for the rich Romans; the
whole place was lined with the finest
white marble, all of which but few
fragment yet on the walls, has long since
disappeared. Parts of statues and
carvings, are laid in heaps by the walls,
all these Inins have yielded great store
of wonderful antique statues which are
in museums and galleries in various
cities. These baths are said to have
been the primary cause of the decline
and fall of Rome; the people got into
the habit of lounging there all day and
every day, slowly growing lazy, dissi-
pated and unfit for either commerce or
war. .... ....
While driving along the Appian Way,
at many places we saw the original
pavement which the feet of Paul once
trod, and at the side of the road were
many very ancient tombs. Leaving the
carriage we walked into field, little
cabin occupied by the monks who act as
guides, showed us where the entrance to
the Catacombs of st. Calixtus was. This
is the largest of the many similar cat
acombs about Rome, galleries in the
earth used by the early Christians as
burial places for their dead, and as places
of worship during the times of persecu-
ton.
The guide took great roll of small
wax taper, cutting off about foot for
each one of the party, and when all
were lighted, he led the way to stair
case out in the open field, opening into
the bowels of the earth. We followed in
single file, keeping close together, for
the galleries are pitch dark, and as there
are Is miles of the passages we did not
care to get lost in them. We descended
two staircases land sloping ways to the
second gallery 80 feet below the surface;
there are two below this, but all are
alike. The passages are about 8 feet
wide and 8 to 10 feet high, the graves on
each side dug in the walls, one above
another, arranged like berths in the
cabins of steamboats,, with from 3 to 6
in each place. The bodies were laid in
these, parallel to the passages, and the
openings covered with thin slab of
marble, on which was cut the person $
name. In time the graves were opened
by thieves or ghouls, looking for buried
valuables, and the slabs carried away for
building purposes, so that the bones
have nearly all disappeared, either gone
back to dust or been carried away: /
saw only one perfect skeleton and few
scattered bones, 1t was terrible place
for people to live, as many did in olden
times, or as place to hold services, for
it is cold and damp; but a place would
not have missed seeing ON any account,
although all were glad enough to see the
glorious sunlight again. We emerged
: by different staircase than the one we
} descended and some distance from
J it; these staircases are well built of stone
and brick. No burials have taken
= place in these catacombs since 40C
!. A. ID.
Back of the castle is the "Mam.
ertine'' prison where tradition says
Peter and Paul were confined We
entered little chapel and the guide
lighting torch, led the way down 6
long steep fight of stone steps into Z
vaulted chamber about 10x12 feet in the
; centre of which was a round hole, GOV
cred by heavy iron grating. Prisoners
were formerly let down into the lowel
! dungeon with rope, now access is haC
! by flight of stone steps in one corner
! In the lower dungeon Is a spring, said t.
: have appeared miraculously at the tim,
! Peter was there; as to the miracle
: could not say, but the spring was there
? This lower place is at least IS feet below
!, the surface of the ground, the only ligh
= coming through the grating from tn,
dungeon above, which is nearly as blacl
: = as the lower one. Near by is st. Glenn
l ent's Church, very old, but old as it is
beneath it are the ruins of three othe
!, churches and heather temples, each o
/ which was in use for long time. Thi
= gives some idea of how the surface o
: Rome rose as one city has been built ol
= another. st. John Lateran is mag
! nificent church, like all the churches i
= Rome, splendid with colored marble an,
: gold, and contains the celebrated sculI
: ture the "Pieta" by Bernine. Close b
, in separate building is the sacred stail
7 7 case of stone, which is said to have bee
\ the entrance to the house of PLATE il
u Jerusalem, the one trodden by Christ a
: the time he appeared before the Cover
nor, and which was brought from Jeru
salem. No one is allowed to ascend e1
II