The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1892-04-04
threaten tho traveller in tho Campagna,
tho robbers do not.
4 CoMrosiTE CITY.

thrcaten Inc traveller III tho CnmpaHnu,
tho robbers do not.
A COMPOSITE CITY.
But l perceive that l N.Y. dcvoting
perhaps too much space 10 a subject
that will not interest your readers US
much us It has inc. It Is not the coun.
try around Romc that they particularly
desire TO read about 20 much MS the area
within its walls. They want to know
what it Is like to-day. What Is modern
Romeo My answer Is that Is very.
much OF q conpositc-vcry much OF n
mosaic-very much, in other words, OF
a blending Of things ancient, modiGcval
aud modern. Just how many Romes Of
ono kind aud another thcrc have been
in tho last twenty-scven hun.
bred years, It would BIO hard
to tell. | have heard n Ice
turer here say that there were
three ancient homes. First, that
which existed from the days Of
Romulus down to tho time
when tho Gauls destroyed the city
about 400 years before Christ. Second,
that which Nero destroyed about tho
year 81 OF tho Christian era, aud third,
that which he and his SUCCESSORS re;
built. II
To ascertain just what there is here at
this time Of these three old time Roncs,
and to follow the line OF succession on
down through tho centuries is the task
that obtains. so many people horO not
only month after month but year after
year. 10 begin with, ! may say that
there is not much OF worry ancient or
original Rome here. The seven hills
arc hero, tho Tiber is hero, some Of tho
wells arc here, some Of tho a~queducts,
and the great ,"Cloaca MaSima" sewer
also. All else is n%pocryplal rs regards
the antc-empire days, saying nothing
OF tho ante-Gaulic destruction. And
even the hills and tho Tibcr are so
changed that ! presume the first settlers
would not now recognize them. They
have been so cut down or regarded and
undermined, and so often built upon
and dcnuded. that they arc not at all in
their original shape. Neither is the
Tibor. 1t has been widcncd and walled
up, or rather, [ should say, is being, for
the great work is still in progress. Ont.
side OF the city ! presume Romulus
would recognize tho THOR. There is the
same old channel, and tho banks are
about MS bare OF settlers or OF houses or
signs Of life us they could have been in
his day.
In the nature OF things, how could
there DO very much moro than these
few reminders OF ancient RomcP 1t has
been tho most destroyed city the world
has ever known. The Gauls burned it
at the time / spoke OF. Then followed
Nero, as | further said. Next came
Alorjc, early in the fifth century, and
then, soon after, that other barbarian
Genscric. To capture and sack Rome
was the favorite amusement OF the old
time kings and warriors. Rome robbed
and ravaged Greece and Egypt and
Palestine, and destroyed Carthage and
Jerusalem, and an ~avenging Nemesis
retaliated upon her time and again. So
that as regards mementoes OF original
Rome. they arc naturally very few.
They point out still at low water the
ruins OF the foundations OF the famous
Sublician bridge on which immortal
lloratius stood and held the invaders at
bay and saved Tome. This was the
original bridge OF Rome. AS L looked
ut that site 1 thought OF the speech
that General Garfield made at Steuben-
vile the yeas before he was nominated
for President, when he told how GEN
eral McCook, OF that city, who was
killed at Atlanta, repeated to his staff,
just before he went into action, the fol
lowing verse from Macauley's lays, OF
Ancient Rome. s%;.n
Then ont spakc brave uoratius, the captain OF
tho gate,
To every man upon this earth death cometh
soon or late:
And how can a man die better thnn fleeing fear.
iul odds, w
For the ashes OF his sires and the temples oi his
GOls?" I'll,
Within an hour after McCook quoted
that verse to his staff he was as cold in
the embrace OF death ~, he who spoke
the original words.
My next letter will describe the city
OF Rome rs it appears to-day. awe.