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


! RIRsr IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPE.
"OId,: Rome and New. Rome Historic
Buildinss-RuIns Of the Coliseum-Pal-
ace of the Cesars-st. Paul's Chapel
The Appian way--The Catacnmbs- The
''Mamertine" PrIson St. Peters and
Peters. ~ Lr.F
Especial Correspondence Of the Bunner.l
NUMBER VII. r
But next day as we drove out of new
into old Rome, the transition was start
ling, we we're at once plunged into the
Rome of history, the Rome we had
dreamed of sometime beholding. H-
If new Rome was very new, as we
drove across the city and into old Rome,
we found that very old: one minute you
are in the 10th century, the next back in
the list. The ''Forum of I'rajan" is first
passed. an open space about 300x150 feet,
several feet below the present city level,
in which are the bases of a large number
of pillars that formerly supported the
roof: a large column in the centre, has a
statue of st. Peter on top, where former
ly stood that of TraiaD. Soon after pass
lIE llllS We CdiHt w oPNNS wa
out a modern building, containing the
Coliseum, the Palace Of the Caesars, the
Roman Forum, the Basilica of COnstan-
tine. various triumphal arches, and scat
tered about are fragments of number
of temples; here two columns of one,
there eight Of another, while all about
were great granite pillars, parts of vari-
ous buildings, friezes, and much broken
statuary, These are all at the ancient
level of the city, about 20 feet below that
of the modern city. One building now
used as a church, with the entrance on
the new level, was formerly a heather
temple, the old entrance is still open
from the vicinity and level of the forum.
The Coliseum is furthest from the city,
an enormous mass of brick and stone,
oval in shape, one side is gone nearly to
the ground, but half still stands as in the
days of its glory, stately and grand. This
building was used for centuries as a
quarry. Many buildings in Rome were
erected with material taken from it, and
an enormous mass is yet there. The
rows of seats are plainly visible, the pas
sages and staircases can be tlaversed, and
enough is left of the underground works
to give one a good idea of where the
wild beasts were kept, how they were let
into the arena, and the mighty ducts by
which the water came, when the arena
was turned into vast lake, on Which
naval battles took place. The arrange
ment of the building as to seating, slop-
ing from the top toward the arena, made
the base of it enormously thick; wide
passage extended under the first and
widest gallery, all the way around; at
short intervals passages leading from the
outside to the arena crossed this, and
from it led the many flights of stairs to
the three upper stories. The second gal
lery was narrower, and the next still
more so, the circular passage being at
the back of the seats and under the next
gallery. The bricks used in all these
buildings were about half the thickness
of ours, and a little wider, made very
dense by pressure and hard baked. They
composed the greater part of the mass OF
the building, which was faced on the
outside with cut stone, as the interior
probably was also. The cement used by
the Romans was wonderfully strong, as
can readily be seen by the way the vari-
GUS ruins have held together for centu
ries in spite of storms, and the tooth of
time. This cement has often been
analysed, but the secret has not yet been
discovered.
The Palace of the Caesars is on the Pal
atine Hill, overlooking the whole of an
cient Rome, and consists of a vast build
ing with miles of vaulted passages, the
roof being garden, and the whole was
once surrounded by splendid grounds.
Most of the passages have been cleared
of the mass of fallen material which
blocked them, and we wandered for a
long time through them at the
various levels, and into the large number
of chambers opening from them, Here
Augustus, Tiberias, and other emperors
lived, each adding to the already vast
pile. Some of the marble lining is yet in
place, giving an idea of the magnificence
it once had; quantities of fragments of
fine statues lie scattered about, together
with the stone carvings and pillars, and
in some of the rooms can yet be seen a
little of the fine frescoes that adorned
the walls. The ancients had stucco
compound they put on the interiors of
buildings, which after many centuries
vet looks and feels like marble, and
which made good surface for frescoes; ;
the same stuccO is seen in Pompeii. A
very pretty garden of large extent 0ccu-
pies the roof of the old Palace and the
space about it, having fountains, flowers,
shrubbery and shady walks. -g
All the excavation of ancient buildings
is conducted by the Italian Government,
soldiers guard all the gates of enclosed
places, and the fees help pay expenses.
| The "Basilica of Constantine" is great
mass of brick work, composed of three
great arches, near the forum, and like
many other ruins was undergoing repairs
necessary to prevent the fall of some
parts of the building. All these ruins
were for a long time neglected, but great
care is now taken to preserve them. A
beautiful marble arch spans the Appian
Way, the route by which Paul entered
Rome, and stands just at the edge of the
great open space mentioned, just be-
yond the end of the forum nearest the
city are two other splendid arches, the
smaller that of Septimus Severus, the
other the grand structure erected by I'll.
tus as memorial of the capture of Jeru-
salem. The forum is much like that OF
Trajan only larger, and winding in and
out through it and up to the Capitol, the
rear of which abuts on old Rome, passes
the famous, Via Sdcrd the road up which
came all the triumphal professions, as
the various victorious generals returned
to Rome, bringing booty and prisoners
and marched the whole up to the Capitol
II is paved with great blocks of yer.
hard black basaltic lava, from one to two
feet square, and is only about 20 fee
wide: the rubbish has all been removed
from it, and there it is just as the ole
Romans walked over it, This part o
Rome was all and more than fancy hat
painted it. Underneath the forum rum
the "Clodcd MdriRd," or great sewer
the oldest one in the world, and still il
good condition, it is now part of the sew
erage system of the city: it can easily b.
seen by going down short flight 0
steps. ", .,
Various temples surrounded the forum
of which now only few pillars are left
the ancient foundation of the Capitl
is in PLAN sight on that sid
nearest the forum, the entrance is on tn
opposite side, a grand double staircas
leading up from the Tiber As l stoo'
in the arena of the Coliseum, / though
of the many Christian martyrs who ther
had fought with, and been devOured b
wild beasts, and of the gladiators VIII
had fought to the death; and as
looked up to the seats above, l coul