The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-01-24
ON THE JANICULUM HILL
4 MOST BEAUTIFUL YIEW FROM 4
 NOTED HISTORIC SPOT.

The Janiculum Rears It's Crest Nearly Three Hundred Feet Above the Sea. Singular Island in the Tiber River.
 Dresden, Jan. ', 1896. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER. The Janiculum Hill rises high beyond the west bank of the Tiber and seems to me like Q weird, mysterious region of the Gods. It looms darkly with its tall black expresses against a deep blue sky, and smacks of the time of Numa Pom pilius, the first Sabine king of Rome. In fact, it takes us back to 8 very re- mote period In tradition, when Tons, the son of the old God James, erected on this hill an altar which rendered the place sacred, and an air of sanctity has ever pervaded this singular locality. Let us suppose ourselves standing on the Capitol steps, close by the famous Tarpeian Rock, and from this spot we will take our departure toward the Jan- iculum Hill. As we turn to descend the steps leading toward the Roman Forum We obtain one of the grandest views of ancient Rome. It comprises the whole of the Forum, with it's incomparable ruins; the Arch of Titus looms up grand ly in the distance, and beyond stand the majestic Flavion Amphitheater Cor. as we style it, the Colisseum,) the Arch of Constantine, and innumerable ruins of deep historic interest.
 Let us descend the steps and take the street to the right, the "Via di Teodoro,' just below the Palatine, which gleams above us like truly celestial mountain. We shortly pass the ruins of the Temple of Diyus Augustus; near Dy are the re- mains of an old ninth century church. There are many ruins of churches here, some of which carry us back to the sev- enth century and earlier The Forum Boarium" stood here, the old market for oxen which Livy mentions. The first fight of gladiators took place at this spot, when Decimus Brutus celebrated the funeral rites of his father, 264 B. c. The Arch of Janus stands close by with its four arches and forty-eight niches, and it seems singular to comprehend that the Rape of the Sabines' took place right here. A little alley leads us to a spring of clear water, in fact, this is where those mysterious horsemen, Castor and Pollux, watered their horses just after the battle of Lake Regillus. These strange beings stopped here to rest and refresh their wearied white steeds.
 ''But on rode these strange horsemen, : On rcda they 10 the Forum.
 X When they drew nigh to Vesta,
 They vaulted down amain,
 And washed their horses in the well That springs by Vesta's fane;
 And straight again they mounted
 Ard rode to Vesta's door;
 Then, like a blast, away they passed, And no man saw them more
 The valley betweelr the Capitoline and Palatine Hills was in very ancient times a swamp and was often filled with water from inundations of the Tiber. At a later period itwas drained and called the vela'brum Through this valley or swamp foated the. cradle which con- veyed Romulus and Remus from the Tiberto the fig tree of the Palatine. Tn this vicinity are many ruins of temples and churches. It is one of the most his- toric centers of Ancient Rome.
 We are now approaching the Tiber, and there right in front of us is the little round temple which was formerly called the Temple of vesta This beautiful temple is doubtless very familiar ob- ject to many of my readers. This is now called the Temple of Hercules It was built previous to the Christian era. Near by is the Temple of Furtuno, which is said to be the most ancient temple in Rome. Across the street is the House of Rienzi. Tn this house that famous leader wrote his pompous letter in 1347 when, like lunatic, he called upon emperors, kings and potentates to appear before him. Rienz, 'the last of the Tribunes," was born in this vicinity. His father was a tavern keeper, his mother a washerwoman. To this low estate had the powerful tenth century family of the Crescentii fallen, one of the most powerful noble families in Rome When we visit the Church of Ara-Coel, on the Capitoline Hill, we will ascend the steps down which Julius Caesar descended on his knees after his triumphs in Britain; fourteen hum dred years later Rienzi's dead body was dragged down these same steps by a turbulent Jewish mob.
 We are now in the district where for merly stood the Ghetto" This was de- stroyed in 1885, and the whole Jewish quarter was then swept away. The treatment of the Jews in Rome for many centuries was most barbarous, and the oppression on the part of the Romans was most bitter. Their freedom was re- stricted in every possible manner. In the days of Pope Clement VIII. all trade was forbidden them save in old clothes, rags and iron. They were ground to powder, but they increased in great numbers, and at last, after many years, they obtained their freedom from op- pression.
 In 1468 Jews were not allowed to even walk in the streets of Rome, and Chris tians' were forbidden to eat, trade CT dwell with them, and many Jews were forced to run races during the Carnival, and this humiliation continued for two hundred years. In an old book of 1667 there is mentioned "the asses ran first, the Jews, robbed with only band round their loins, then the buffaloes, then the o,rI,e J,x,r