The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-03-18

running feet Of stone and marble berches,
besides the elaborate system OF stairways
which made these seats accessible for
number OF spectators variously estimated
at from 10000 to $500 This great mass
Of solid material has disappeared-yanished
leaving US in complete ignorance as 10
the method OF its disappearance. IT has
been possible. however. to trace what one
may call the career OF many Of the stones
Of Rome. Beginning with the transforma-
ton of republican Rome by the early en-
perors. Prof. Lanciani follows the events
which befell the ancient monuments Down
to the sixteenth century. Natural agencies
are only accountable for a small portion OF
the destruction Of old buildings-fires,
foods. earthquakes and the d.sintegration
due to time have played their part, but 1t
is as nothing compared to the havoc made
by man. Up to the beginning OF the third
century the building materials were quar-
ried: after that time the practice Of build
ing walls with architectural marbles blocks
containing inscriptions statues. and other
fine materials from previous structures.
was prevalent The upper story of the
Coliseum for instance was restored in 223
and again In $50 with a patchwork OF
stones OF every description; a private bath
discovered in 1873 and dating from the
time OF Diocletian had walls which were
built. below the surface largely of stat
ues, there were life-size or semi-colossal
figures Of Minerva, Bacchus Aesculapias.
columns with capitals. the basin of a foun-
tain and other similar materials in It. A
more familiar example is the arch OF Con-
stantine nicknamed "Esop's crow
BY the fourth century it had become a
common practice to dismantle early build
ings for the sake of their materials. The
most precious examples both of Greek and
Roman workmanship in statues were
broken to pieces. and the bits thrown into
the limek.ln or built into the foundations
of new buildings. "A foundation wall
which runs under the hospital of ST. John
Lateran." says Vasca, "is built entirely |
of fragments of excellent statuary. | |
saw there knees and elbows modelled in |
the style OF the LAGOON OF the Belve- |
dere." In the walls and foundations OF |
an old house were discovered eighteen or |
twenty portrait-busts of emperors. Thus |
the Romans themselves worked for the
destruction of Rome. Nevertheless. at
the beginning of the fifth century all the |
great buildings were still virtually intact
linen came tne suck OF tne CITY Dy the !
Goths and Vandals: after that repeated |
sieges during the war with the Ostro-
Goths. the desolation of the Campagna,
the coming OF the Saracens in SAC and OF
Guiscard and the Normans in 1854, from
which date Is marked the final decay of
the city. And yet we might have counted
upon the descent to our own time of the
ruins OF all the great buildings had not
TT ~,
crate exploitation of the ruins of old
Rome by the marble cutters and the lime
burners. For three centuries the guild Of
marble cutters systematically made ex-
cavations' and destroyed old monuments
to fnd models and also materials for their
own work. They were especially fond of
aphs-whether pagan or Christian it
not because the thin slabs of
marble on which the epitaphs were in
serlhed could easily be adapted to their
being almost ready for use in
borders and panels OF mosaic"
The marble workers also naugurated an
and even international
trade in Roman marbles. which dourished
for two hundred and fifty years
The first influential voice raised against
these destructive practices was that OF
II was only toward the close
Of the sixteenth century that the delib-
crate destruction of the great architectu-
raj glores Of old Rome came to an end
What the city must have been In the day
81 its fun beauty 1t is now hardly posi-
bic to conceive.
C"The Destruction OF Ancient Rome" by
LancianL sl50. The Macmillan
30. For sale by Lowman & Hanfordl
-Cornelia Atwood Pratt.