Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-02-05
a PROPOSED ATHLETIC REVIVAL.


a PROPOSED ATHLETIC REVIVAL.
In the center of the arena of that noble
ruin, the Colosseum at Rome, there stands
solitary cross erected to the memory of
the hundreds of unnamed martyrs who
were put TO death in the great amphithea-
Ter in the second and third centuries of the
Christian era No grander pile was ever
erected in the interest of public assembling
than the Colosseum, and no amphitheater
has been the scene of such festivals such
grandeur, such triumphs, or such cruelty.
Here the wild beasts of the jungles were
brought to fight to the end with one
another for the amusement of the patrician
and the plebian alike; here the gladiators
contended to the death; slaves persisted at
the win of their masters, and early Chris
tians were given to the lions in honor of
the gods in the presence of vast multitudes
of the most cultured and enlightened men
and women of those ages. In this splendid
Fiavian Amphitheater, centuries ago, were
conducted combats such as the world has
never seen since, and which in the civiliza-
ton of this age are not possible. Its worn
historic pavements have been dyed with
the blood Of human beings offered upon the
altar of superstition and intolerance here
the Roman youth proved its manhood in
athletic games, and siere the Senators pass
ing from the Forum assembled to witness
the combats, the friendly contests and scenic
splendors in which the Roman populace
delighted. The blood of its martyrs, the
ghosts of the slain who fell in the arena,
the nobility of its architecture the
grandeur of the conception that made it
possible, the remarkable preservation of its
incompatible pillared walls and historic
pavements, the arches, columns and
subterranean vaults and chambers have
all served to preserve it from the contami-
nation of trade, under which an attempt
was once made to convert il into factory
for q coarse article of commerce, and to
keep solemniy intact from the touch of the
modern a magnificent relic of structural art,
than which there Is no other save the
pyramids of such monstrous size or such
splendid powers of endurance
Now comes the news that "Hon. William
Cody" the original and only Buffalo
Bill" has applied for leave to open his
"Wild West Show" inside the precincts of
the Roman Colosseum. The addition is
made TO the news, that he is very likely to
obtain the permission for which he prays.
If it is granted, and the ashes of Vespasian
and Titus do not rise in ghostlike forms
to fright Bills painted red men, greasy
vaqueros and slatternly squaws from the
historic pavements, we may settle down
"for good" into The belief that spirits sleep
utterly obiyious to the ordinations by
the mortals of the places they once filed.
The very thought is exasperating of the
"Deadwood stage" rattling over the stones
OF the Colosseum; ofthe whoop of the dirty
Black Hills savages echoing through the
noble arches, and breaking in screeches
against the Corinthian capitals of the lofty
stories where once were graceful galleries
and magnificent arcades, in which moved
the law-givers the poets, the beauties, the
heroes and the statesmen of Ancient Rome.
The idea of one of Cody's bucking
broncos plunging about among the historic
stones of the arena, or of BilFs half-breed
cowboys swinging the lariat over the cross
that rises in memory of the blood of mar
tyrs and heroes ought to send @the shiv-
erS'i down the backs of all psychologists
is there no spot sacred from invasion by
the American Snowman? Are the noble
piles of Old World arehitecture-no mat
ter to what uses these structures were
once put, or what the intolerance or
despotic rule of their builders-to be
brought to the humiiiating level of the
circus tent Are the side show" and
the lemonade stand, and the fat woman.
and the living skeleton, and two-headed
baby, and all the belongings of the Ameri-
can circus and of Cody's show, to despoil
the classic grounds of Greece aud Rome OF
their romance and desecrate ruins Of Hlhe
splendid ages that still excite the modern
to travel and exploration in the historic
Eastern world? Is there not enough of
respect remaining among the modern gov
ernors of the Old World, for the noble
ruins left to their keeping, to make them
reject as insulting the proposition to con-
vert these ancient piles, around which
cluster 50 many historic memories and
classic traditions, into two-bit show
grounds? Probably not. The modern
Roman and the later Italian, with their
eyes turned for the ready penny, will con-
sent to any uses Of the old stones
for coin. We may, therefore, soon expect
to hear from correspondents Of Cody's
Apaches galsooing on their bow-legs over
the bones Of the gladiators; OF the torn
mating OF the Grows and Blackfeet