New-York tribune., 1895-12-22

prevent It's falling TO pieces. and with Its base
,nc,osed in masonry by the Ottomans. who have
dana tbo,r hest TO save what Is looked upon as
tho nol,a adium of the city can still be seen from
afar II commentaries the very beginning OF
the CITY as reconstructed by the first OF Chris
t,an Eunerors The name and exploits OF Thoo-
dosius the Great are associated with the Egyp-
t,an obelisk that marks the centre OF what was
once the Hlppodrome. But. more venerable
than these is the melancholy fragment OF
bronze. the Serpent Of Delphi. which, with It's
inscription commentaries almost as an anair
Of Yesterday the battle OF Plataea 1t brings
the ages close together TO think that the world
still owns even fragment or monument
which dates from the time of the Persian war;
There are other columns less ancient. there are
the ruins OF palaces dating at least from JUS
tinian and there are ancient prisons more re-
voting If possible, now than they were IN times
when they were tenanted. One OF these, the
Prison OF Anemas remained long unciscovered
The ottoman conQuerors never knew OF IT'S ex-
istence. and one may easily imagine that It's
dungeons were filed. in their time. with prison.
crs who perished. utterly forgotten by the living
over their heads. Yet the prison could rot be
dismissed from the minds of those VINO read the
Byzantine authors. "over whose pages Its name
hung like grisly nightmare AT last Dr. Pas
patis rediscovered IT, mere Granny in a
broken tower opposite the place where once
stood the famous Palace Of the Bachernia in
vited search. "With difficulty and danger climb
ing up he wedged himself through the narrow
opening For a distance of thirty feet he
crawled along In the darkness, through vault.
ed passage less than two feet high. and but little
wider Thence he emerged into n tiny room.
Shiny tomb-like. Stygan. but where at least a
man could stand erect. The candle fickered In
the mephtic vapors. and Only served to make
the backness darker Nevertheless. he felt that
something was discovered. When. better pro-
vIded a few days later he repeated his ad-
venture he realized with an antiquarys unut-
terabIe exaltation that he had found the prison
of Anemas." Other rooms and passages have
since been discovered But the prison as
whole awaits the excavator. Those who have
road scott's Count Robert Of Paris' will need
no other help to picture to themselves the hor-
rors of the place. Some day all its mysteries
will be unearthed.
"Constantlnople is also replete with ruins that
can never be adjusted to history. Nothing Is
more typical Of the city" says the author than
the fugitive inscriptions. the rooms whose early
usage s forgotten and the disconnected blocks
Of masonry, hardly more than medieval rub
bish. found in every quarter OF the city. To
each attach the interest Of conjecture and the
pathos of nameessness, as one seeks in vain to
solve the enigma Of its history, and depict the
structure OF which centuries ago 1t was part.
Everywhere the ground is honeycombed with
wall and arch and pillar. over which thin earth
rolls in graceful unduation or which jut mere
suggestions. through the surface. or lie in in
discriminate confusion around