Evening star., 1896-07-04
DID NO WRONG EXCEPT TO DIE.

Perfectly Preserved Body Discovered
Twelve Centuries After Her Death.
p. L. Comedians Letter In Boston Pilot.
Frascau 10 twelve miles distant from
Rome; deliberate paced train occupies
three-Quarters Of an hour in the journey,
which is, however. longer on account Of the
curves than the road line. This is covered
in an hour ana half by the smart little
horses Of the Campagna But whether the
traveller goes by road or by rail-, the Jour-
ney is one Of SURPRISING interest. for
there ths exquisite c:mpafna lies
With wild flowers overstrewn. like some loved
Its n silent stretches haunted by vast trains
Md visionary posnp Of vanished DAYS,
The buried grandeur Of imperial Rome.
Here. as elsewhere in this mysterious 81
lent plain, the interest arises from the ru-
ms with which 1t Is strewn. A whole
mighty civilization has arisen and flourish
ed with abounding life; and decayed, leav-
ing scarcely "a wrack behind" save the
scattered and grass grown ruins. half
concealed beneath the soil of this solitary
plain. AS the late w. w. Story has writ
ten Of it-for he loved 1t as a second ia
therland:
How 1t lies throbbng there beneath the sun
So silent with Its ruins in Its breast!
But whatever the soil may conceal, the
vast group OF gigantic ruins near the fifth
mile Of the road fill the eye with their bulk
and vast extent. This is what the people
of Rome have called Roma Vecchia" or
old Rome" apparently thinking that such
extensive ru MS must be those of whole
city. High walls with gaping windows and
great rents through which the daylight
passes. and tall towers with broken sum-
mtts, and vast chambers and halls and cor
ridors, with leaden pipes under ground, and
columns and statues and marble fragments
such are the objects that, In part, were
found here and, in part, still remain. The
large modern farm house, known as Ca
sale df Roma Vecchia, Is built Of the
fragments of the ancient buildings that
stood here. The very enumeration of the
statues-several of them in the vatican
museum-which were found here would fill
column. 1t was in this place that one
authority placed the sepulcher of the So
called Tulliola, daughter of Cicero, the
orator; but the dead body thus named was
discovered about half mile off near the
Appian way.
or this remarkable discovery, Lanciani
has given a full account in his recent
work, derived from the diaries of contem-
porary writer's. Antonio di Vaseli says
that today. April 10, 1915, the news
came into Rome that a body buried
thousand years ago had been found in a
farm of Santa Maria Nova, in the Cham
pagna. near the Casale Rotondo." A coffin
was seat to convey the remains to Rome,
where { was placed In the palace of the
conser ators on the capitol. The body ap-
peared to be covered with glutinous SUBJ
stance, mixture of myrrh and other pre-
clous ointments, which attracted swarms
OF bees. The said body" continues Vaseii,
Is intact. The hair is long and thick; the
eyelashes, eyes, nose and ears are spot
less, as well as the nails. 1t appears to be
the body of woman, of good size, and her
mead is covered with a light cap Of woven
gold thread, very beautiful. The teeth are
white and perfect; the flesh and the tongue
retain their natural color but if the gluti-
nous substance is washed off. the flesh
blackens in less than hour"
And who was she this lady Of the long
distant past who had been preserved, in
all her primitive beauty and undecaying
freshness, through the many centuries?
Many identified her with Tulliola daughter
OF Cicero: and one witness expressed his
readiness to believe SO because he had seen
rear where she was found tombstone
with the name of Marcus Tullius and be-
in the neighborhood. She was not the
daughter Of Cicero; nevertheless, crowds
Hooked to the capitol to gaze upon this an
tique lady whose body defied decay for
Pope Innocent VIII. in order to stop the
excitement and superstitions of the citi-
zens. ordered that her body should be re-
moved at night outside the Porta Salaria,
ana buried secretly at the foot of the city
walls. The marble coffin, or sarcophag.1s
IN which she was found, had an inscrip-
ton upon 1t which was read at the time,
ana which ought to have set at rest the
vexed question as to who she was if il
was not that then, as well as now, people
preferred the pretty fiction they held to
rather than the plain prosaic fact The in
scrlpt1on related that she was Julia Pris-
ca, freed woman Of Lucius Julius, who
lived twenty-six years, one month, one
DAY: She never did any wrong except to
ole. mat last phrase. If 1t We're truer
than the run Of modern epitaphs, ought to
nave served to render her immortal 1t
was said of thane of Cawdor, that moth
ing In his life became him like the leav-
irg it," how different was Julia Prisca who
never did any wrong except to de-