The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1892-04-07
THE ETERNAL CITY.
Mr.. Campbell Writes Entertaining
~ from Rome, Italy.
The ANCIENT AND MODERN RORES.
Little Remains that Marks the Gran.
dcur OF Ancient Days---Inpressions
orthc City.-A View Of the City from
St. Petcris.-.Thc Popc--.Tclnporal
Power a Thing of the Past.
.eesal c9rersleaek dN< Lal4lxAat.

Rome that We SEQ here to-day is the
Rome OF the empire, dating from Julius
Cesar. B. c., to the transfer OF the seat
OF empire under Constantine to the city
that bears his name in the fourth cen.
tury. Nearly ali We see here tina. is
called ancient really belongs to this per-
iod. OF these mementoes the first place
is assigned by unusual concurrence to
tho ruins Of the magnificent Colosseum,
tho most stately and majestic ruins in
tho world, as naturally it must be to
have once, as an ampitheatre, accom-.
modated one hundred thousand specta.
tors OF the gladiatorial combats. It was
built Immediately after the destruction
OF Jerusalem By Titus, in the first CEN
fury, and tradition here says mainly by
the captivcs he brought from Jerusa-
lem with him. "Their cnslayed ances-
tofs'built the pyramids and their cap
tive children bnilt the Colosseum"
Next, in point oil interest, como the
ruins OF the Roman Forum, and tho adj
iacent ruins OF the palaces OF the CAESARS
on the Palattne hill, and the ruins that
are about tho C~opitoline hill close by.
They arc all adjoining each other
and all close 10 the Colosseum. The
granite and the marble pillars OF the
Forum, standingor lying prostrate, were
there no one knows how long ago. The
imperial arches are OF q later date. The
excayated area OF the forum comprises
q space aa long as from the Market
street bridge to Twelfth street and twice
as wide. In this area there are not
only the ruins OF the Forum proper but
Of various temples, as we'll o. the front
OF the ruins OF the palaces OF the Caesars
and OF the basilica OF Constantine, and
other ancient buildings. What we see
here varies in age three or four hun
dred or more years. but all OF it goes
back as far as the fourth century. There
is enough left, cruelty dcstroyed'a as il
has been, TO tell much OF the story OF
Rome's grandeur under the Caesars and
their immediate SUCCESSORS, but very lit
tie to tell OF the Rome OF an earlier day,
or, in other words, OF the Rome OF the
kings and the republic. 1t is really
melancholy to think, Notwithstanding
all the invasions and burnings OF Rome,
how much OF her greatness in the way
OF buildings, columns. statues, bronzes,
&c, fall that she originated and all that
che spoilated from the world at Target
might have been saved but for cupidity
and religious bigotr: within her walls.
The early Christians were no doubt
worthy Of our esteem in many respects,
hrt ell III n mn shay ~ara| M ,xp oro~t
and narrow-minded set, very littlo bet
ter, as regards any appreciation Of
genius or culture, than the barbarians.
Their great zeal was to get rid Of all that
had ever been conceived by pagan.
genius or fashioned by pagan hands,
and SO they proceeded in sheer and
wanton bigotry to break, burn and de-
stroy. To them the marbles Of Phidias
or Of Praxiteles were only valuable for
time, and they burned them az ruth
lcssly as the followers OF Mahomet
burned the invaluable literary treas
ures OF Alexandria. This is wha, anti
pagan bigotry did for Rome in the early
centuries Of the Christian era. The
present remnant OF the Colosseum.
only about one-third of the original
structure, was only save1 by conse-
Grating il, and if the finest bronze
equestrian statue in the world, that OF
Marcus Aurelius, on the Capitoline,
had not been believed to be n statue of
Constantine it would have been melted
down along with thousands Of others.
Such was the anti-heatken rage that
prevailed IN Rome after Constantine
become q convert.
VERY LITTLE REMAINS.
On every hand Rome, as you see. has
had a hard time OF it. All that is hero
to-day in any and every shape, stone,
marble or bronze, is not a 1.-THE OF what
was once here. Even had Rome az it
stood as late as the twelfth century
come down TO us, it would possess
many times the attractions that 1t holds
out to the world at large. II, shorn rs
it is, it is still the most attractive city
in the world to historians, students and
artists, what would 1T have been to
them had modern ideas prevailed be-
fore they came too late to ave so much
from despoliation.
But at the rate I am progressing l
will not 60 over half the ground
that, in a condensed way, I ex-
pected to cover in this letter. l have
come down only to tho days Of the
Christian era in tho way OF the monu-
ments and mementoes Of tho past, and
have only made the barest allusion
even to them, and only to some Of them
at that. There remains in regard to
things above and below ground in.
Romo q whole book TO be written. I
shall not attempt to write it in this
letter. Medieval Rome, and the Rome
OF a later day, as also the Rome OF our
own day, have their separate and pecu-
liar and deeply interesting histories,
and any number ofmonuments and me-
mentoes Of the centuries through which
they have passed. There is material in
them, as in the remoter past, for any
number OF letters. In fact, rs I look
about and 60 about Rome day BY day, L
almost reach tho conclusion that Glib
bon finally reached, to attempt a book.
Who would not like to have been the
author OF Gibbons matchless book?
1T was at Rome" says tho great au-
thor, ION the 18th Of October, 17G4, as
! sat mnsing amidst the ruins OF the
capital, whilst the barefooted iriars were
singing yespers in the Temple of Jup-.
liter, TINT tho idea of writing the Decline
and Fall OF the Roman Empire first
started to my mind" There is no moro
suggestive spot in Romo on which to
sit and muse than that same crest Of
the capitol where Gibbon sat and muscd
that October day 12S years ago. Hike
myself to wander over there and look
down from the capitol's height on the
"storied past Of fallen Rome as there