Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-02-24
RtV. DR. TAlMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIyINE,s sim
DAY SERMON.
"THE CoLLEsIUM OF ROME"

visited ltI W nat a city IL IS uOWt hOtns
The place where Virgil SAM ald Horace
satirlzed. AMI Terence laughed aud Catilins
conspired, and Ovid dramatizel AMI Nero
fiddled, and Ves,asian prosecuted and Sulla
legisated, and Cicero thundered, and Aurel
ius and Decius and Csligula and Julian aud
Eadriad and Constantine and Augustus
reigned, and Paul the Apostle preached the
gospel.
am not much OF a craftsman, but 1 have
in my memorandum book a sketch which ]
made in the winter OF 1889, whom went out
TO the gate through which Paul entered
Rome ami walked up the very street he
walked up to see somewhat how .he city
must have looked TO him as he came in on
the gospel rrrand proposed in the text.
Palaces on either side OF the street through
which the little missionary advanced. PILED
up wickeduess. Enthronel sc,urseiness.
Tempted cruelties. Affairs 10 shaun deites.
Glorified deu-ious. Piliared, archei,
domed, turretei denominations. Wickedness
of all sorts at high premium and righteous
ness 995f per cent. on. And now he passes
by the fou ldations of building which is to
be almost unparalleled for vsstness. You
can see by the walls which have begun TO
rise that here is to be something enough
stupendous to astound the centuries Aye,
it is the Coliseum started.
or the theatre at Euhesus where Paul
fought with wild beasts, the temple of Diana,
of the Parthenon, of Pharsoh's palace at
Memphis and OF other great buildings, the
ruins OF which have seen, it has been nv
privilege TO address you, but a member OF
my family asked me recently why had not
spoken to you OF the Coliseum at Rome,
since its moral and religious lessons are 50
impressive.
Perhaps while in Rome the law OF contrast
wrought upon me. had visited the Mam-
ertins dungeon where Paul was incarcera-
ted. had measured the opening at the top
of the dungeon through which Paul had
been let down. and it was twenty-thres
inches by twentysix. The ceiling at its
highest point was seven feet from the floor,
but at tho sides Of the room the ceiling was
five feet seven inches. The room at the
widest was fifteen feet. There WAS a scat Of
rock 2l{ feet high. There was a shelf four
feet hlgh. The only furniture was spiders
web suspended from the roof, wa ch | saw
by the torchlight | carried. There was the
subterraneous passage from the dungeon to
the Roman forum, so that the prisoner could
be taken directly from prison to trial.
The dungeon was built out OF volcanic
stone from the Albano Mountains. Oh, it
was a dismal nnd terrific place. You never
saw coal hole so DARK or so forbidden. Tbs
place was to me nervous SHOCK, for re-
member tnst WAS the best thing that the
world would afford ths most illustrious be-
ing, except one that | ever saw, and that
from that place Paul went out to die. From
that spot visitel the Colssum-one Of the
most astounding miracles of architecture
that the world ever saw. IuleeI saw it
morning. noon AMI night, fer it threw a
spell on me from which l could not brea.
away.
Although now a vast ruin, the Coliseum
Is so well preserved taat we can stand in the
center and recall all thlt it oncs was. 1t is
in shape slhpsoidal, oval, obIong. 1t is at
its greatest length Gl2 feot. After it had
furnishel seats for 81 90 p-ople 1t had room
for Is, 600 more to st nd SO that loo, 900 ps1.
pie could sit and stand transhxet by its
scenes OF courage AMI martyriom and bru-
talty and horror.
Instead Of our molern ticGets OF aimis-
sion, they entered by ivory check, and
check dug up near Rome within few years
was marked "Section o, Lowest Tier Seat
No 49," Yo!l unl le stand that the building
was not constructed for an audience to bs
addressed by human voice, although tested
it with some friends and could be heard
across 1t, but it was made only for sesing
and was rcular, and at any point allowed
full view o! the spectacle.
The arena in the centre in oIden times was
strewn with poun lie stone or sand, so as not
10 b, too slippery with human blood, for if
it ware too slippery it would spoil the fun.
The sand flashed here aud there with
sp-rxles of silver and gold, AMI Nero added
cinnabar and Calgua aidei chrysocolls.
The sides Of the arena vera compoSei OF
smooth marble eleven feet nigh, 50 that the
wild bsasts OF the arena could not climb up
into the audience On the top OF these sides
OF smooth marble was metal railing, hav-
ing wooden rollers, which easily revolved.
hot 10 n thpr should lam HI / ID hlCNyh
to scale the wall and with his paw touch any
one of those rollers it would revolve and
drop him back again into the arsnq.
Back of this marble wall surrounding the
arena was a level platform of stone, adorned
with statues of gods and go1essss and the
artistic eeigiss of monarchs and conquerers.
Here were movable seats for the emperor
and the imperial swine and sWlnesses with
which he surrounded himself. Before this
pace where the emperor sat the glaiiators
would walk immediately after entering the
arena, CRYING: Hail, Cesarl Those about
to die salute thee"
The different ranks Of spectators were di.
vided by partitions stu ldsi with mosalcs OF
emerald and bsryl ami ruby AMI diamond.
Great masts OF wood arose from all sfsS OF
the building, from which feStoons OF howers
were suspended, crossing the building, or IN
time OF rain awnings OF silk were suspended,
the Coliseum having no roof. The outside
wall was incrustsd with marble and had
four ranges, and the three lower ranges had
so columns each and arches after arches,
and on each arch an exquisite statue Of a
god or hero.
Into 1870 feet of altitude soare1 the Colis-
cum. IL glittered and flashed and shone
with whole sunrises and sunsets OF daZz'e'
ment. After the audience had assembled
aromatic liquids oozed from tubes distilled
from pipes aud rained gently on the multi
tudes and filled the air with odors OF hya.
cnth and heliotrope and frankiacense and
balsam and myrrh and saffron, so that Lu.
can, the poet, says OF 1t:
At once ten thousand saffron currents flow
And rain their odors on the crowi below.
But where was the sport to come fromi
Well. | went into the cellars opening of
from the arena and saw the place where
they kept the hyenas an lions and panthers
and Wild boars and beastly violences of all
sorts without food or water until made fierce
enough for the arena, and l saw the under.
ground rooms where the gladiators were
accustomed to wait until the clapping Of the
people outside demanded that they come
| forth armed-to murder or be muri ieret.
! All the arrangements were complete, as
| enough OF the cellars and galleries still re-
main to in iicate. What fun they must have
had turning lions without food or drink up
on an unarmed disciple of Jesus Christ
AT the dedication of this Coliseum 5000
wild beasts and 10, 600 immortal men were
slain, so that blood Of men and beast was not
a brook, but river; not pool, but lake.
| Having been in that way dedicated, be not
surprised when tell you that Emperor Pro-
bus on one occasion threw into that arena OF
! the Coliseum 1909 stags 1000 boars and lOOJ
ostriches, What fun it must have been the
sound of trumpets, the roar OF wild beast;
and the groans of dying men while in ths
gallery the wives and children OF those down
under the lions paw wrung their hands and
sbrieked out in widowhood AMI orphanase,
while 100, 100 people capped their hands, and
there was "Hal hap wide as Rome enc
deep as perditlonl
The corpses Of that arena were put on
cart or dragged by hook out through wha'