New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-01-26


Who Made the CITY BY Mrs Oliphant, with Il
Illustrations by Henry p. RvieTe, X. W g.
and Joseph Pennell. PIP. xvii. SlS Macmillan d
Co.
Rome as Leo Y left il is the objective point OF
Mrs. ELEPHANTS newest book The city was then
as beautiful as II has ever been since IL was pro-
fessedy Christian but it's ruling forces were
human!stic and pagan. The capital OF Chils'eh-
dom had gone through many vicissitudes' yet II
had changed less than one would tEinK. Ana the
Papacy like the Empire that went pelore IT,
was weakest when its magnificence was most
striking To explain this Mrs. Ohpnant does not
narrate the history of the city. but she selects
the most important episodes which, though sep
arated b. long intervals of time, are linked 10
each other in an obvious way by the chaln OF
events. How Roman society emerged from pa
ganism how the Papacy perfected Its power,
how the city attempted once to reassert Its
ancient authority. ard how 1t was rebuilt by the
Popes in the time of the renaissance, are matters
closely related in her brilliant description OF
medieval Rome.
The state of the city must be imagined In the
fourth century The populace which long be-
fore had been fattered into the belief that 1t
had nothing to do but to be amused and to re-
ceve its daily dole of food was worse than II
had ever teen. The self-respect that was Justi-
fed by the fact that Rome ruled the world had
no existence now that the central power had
passed to Constantinople. The spirit of the old
aristocracy was dead, and the old nobility itself
had passed away. Strange subterfuges in the
way Of genealogy were found to keep old names
alive-as, for example when the famous Chris
tan lady Paula was called descendant, OF
Aemius Paulus because her mother was
a descendant Of Aemiius Paulus's Sis
ter Thus great names survived and
tha
ditions, sometimes without drop of the old
patrician blood. But they had the garnered
wealth of centuries. and since they had nothing
10 do in the public service they devoted their
minds to the most trivial amusements, TO ath-
letics of the kind then in vogue. to line clothes.
a luxurious table. and to all the devices for
passing the time that could be invented for them
The same thing has happened so often since
in cities weary of their own prosperity that any
repetition of it sounds familiar. But in the case
of Rome this decay Of the wealthy classes was
coincident with the decay Of an old religion and
the steady growth of a new With the ad-
herents of both religions the belief was common
that the success Of Christianity meant the de-
strLction of Rome. To the surviving pagans
Christianity was subversive of all law; to Chris
tians, on the other hand, Rome was that mystic
wicked city against which the prophecy of the
New Testament was directed. There was reason
on both sides But TO Christians the truth of
prophecy seemed to be realized not merely In the
prosecutions OF the past, but in the corruptions
which the Roman life had introduced into the
Church Mrs. Oliphant reproduces Jerome's de-
scription of the cured darlings Of the priesthood
who ran about after good dinners and choice
bric-a- brac, and carried from one noble house
to another the gossip Of the city. The rigid
saint, with his endless studies and his persistent
sef-denial. boiled with rage as he contemplated
these exQuisiteS, these priestly dandies lnfesuhg
the palaces Of the rich.
This shameless psrasitism rivaing in some re-
spects that described by Juvenal. was all the
harder for a good man to endure because those
were great days in the Church st. Athanasius
had visited Rome in recent years and had won
its support TO views which are still orthodox
Learned Churchmen were still disputing earn
estly, sometimes with blows as we'll as words,
over the doctrines of Origen. And now Jerome
came upon the scene after the fasting and soil
tude Of the desert, man Of wonderful learning.
of wonderful skill writer and talker almost
the first Of Latin Christians to master Hebrew.
fully equipped for his great undertaking, the
translation OF the Scriptures. He came to Rome
to attend council. and remained as the secre-
tary of the Roman See But all his public af-
fairs were less significant in history than his as
ISOLATION with a group of Christian ladies in
whom reaction had begun against the fr!volities
Of the time These women were not devotees in
the extreme sense, though some were more in
clned to severity Of life than others. In the end
few Of the noteworthy drifted into the
ascetic life Of the Orient. but others lived their
lives out in Rome, some in the whrl Of fashion.
others more retired. The House of Marcella was.
In fact, convent In the making. with all the
enthusiasm Of piety. but without the strictness
Of rule known to other times. The women were
all distinguished; they had literary as we'll
pious sympathies; they eagerly followed the
disputes that went on respecting doctrine and
they learned Hebrew so as TO sing the Psalms in
the original words. Such the society which
encouraged the first adequate translation Of the
Bible and vanqushed the last prejud!ces Of Rome,
the prejudces of wealth and social position,
against Christianity.
1t Is significant that this assembly Of devout
women was dispersed only when Rome was pill
LACED by the hordes of Alarc. The city up to
that time still dreamed Of strength. The
churches had gradually supplanted the temples
In the reverence Of the people. but there was
little indication of that mnutely regulated &C.
clesiastica system which later began to show
itself in the evolution OF the Papacy. AS the
women Of the House Of Marce!la came and went
at WILL SO the clergy were free from the routine of
later times. Jerome never said more than one
mass in his life. and that was the one required
after his ordination. To population accustomed
to the easy practice of the heather temples 1t
did not occur, according TO Mrs. Oliphant, that
regularity and frequency were necessary in the
Christian services These the result first.
Of religious enthusiasm. They only became the
prevalent usage as Rome became strictly an &C.
clesiastical city. To this the miseries of the
citizens, Of which Alaric's invasion was only the
forerunner, contributed as much as any other
single influence Imagine city with a political
ruler who lived in Ravenna, on the other side Of
Italy, with local rulers who were little better
than faxeatherers with nobody to look to for