The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1900-05-17
SIGHT SEEING IN MERIDA
An Ancient City Dubbed the
Rome of Spain.
PALACES BUILT FROM RUINS
Emerita Augusta Founded Ii. G. 23.
Easy Journeys in Eztramadura Pro-
vince-BadajOz on the Portuguese
Rnrdar.

Border.
MERIDA, SPAIN, April SIT seemed
q hair Drained undertaking-thi
wide detour from customary travel,
across Estramaduro' dusty and DESC
late plains to the very border of
Portugal; but we have found ample
recompense in merely walking the
streets of a city whose foundations
were laid quarter of a century be-
fore Christ was born. Though this
remote and forgotten town cuts no
figure in modern history, Spaniards
cherish it, with pardonable pride, as
the Rome of the PENINSULA for it
contains more relics of the early
Romans than even the Eternal City
of Italy. Indeed, the whole province
of Estramadura, poverty-stricken as
it now appears, is richer in monu-
ments of antiquity than any other
equal area on the face of the globe.
Before coming this way, it will be
well to freshen your memory with a
bit on classical history. The Medina
OF to-day is the self-same Roman
Capital of Lusitania, which Legate
Publius Carisius built B. c., %, and
christened Emerita Augusta. It's
magnificence continued undiminish-
ed down to the fourth century after
Christ. Thirty-six different Roman
coins were struck here, which are
now among the rarest and most val
liable in the world, existing only in
the cabinets of wealthy collectors.
Most of the worn discs of silver and
copper for which fabulous prices are
paid, bear the ancient arms of the
city (Which are still the arms of
Medina)-a turreted gate, with the
inscription Augusta Emerita." Pru-
dentius described the splendors of
this old capital in stately measure, in
his hymn on the death of its pa
troness, Eulalia, who by the way, is
not to be confounded with her name
sake, the tutelar of Barcelona, nor
yet with the blonde haired member
of Spain's royal family who visited
us few years ago. Merida's Eulalia
was born here A. d. 292, and was one
of the earliest female martyrs in
Spain. History is silent as to the
cause of her martyrdom and the tor
lures by which she died.
The sights of Merida are many
and of surprising interest to the
archaeologist. Most of them were
projected during the happy reign of
Trajan, that enlightened prince who
loved to beautify and ennoble the land
OF his birth. The walls Of the city,
once 20 miles in circumference, ante
date Trajan's day; and so does one of
the bridges-that crossing the Guidia-
ma, on whose right bank arises
Merida. 1t is about half a mile long,
with 81 arches, 30 feet broad and 80
feet above the water. Being so long
and flat, it has the appearance of a
causeway, gray and solemn, yet state
ly in its decay. 1t would be hazar-
dous to attempt a crossing now; yet
you venture out a considerable dis
tance upon the crumbling structure
thinking of the countless multi
tudes that have passed to and fro
since its completion in the first
century-until the broken footway,
with the deep, still river far below,
gives you sensations which are likely
to haunt your dreams unpleasantly
for nights to come.
The other ancient bride spans a
smaller stream on the opposite side
of the city, and is a worthy monu-
ment to Trajan, its builder. 1t was
repaired in the year CSC by one of the
Gothic dukes of Toledo; and again in
1910 by Philip III, as an inscription
on its portico announces. A thou
sand traditions, romantic and his
toric, cling to these old, old bridges.
In 1903 a gallant band of Frenchmen,
only 800 strong, kept the whole
Spanish army at bay for a month by
holding the oldest bridge although
the river is fordable at that point.
Four years later, during the siege of
Badajoz, several arches of the other
bridge were purposely destroyed, in
order to impede Marmout's advance.
They were afterwards replaced, to
match the structure as nearly as pos
sible-of solid granite, with bossage
work, "pillowed," or almohadillado,
as the Spaniards say. On an island
in the Guadiana, a little way up
the stream, is Roman dyke, known
as Ell Tajamar, built of massive ma
sonry and intended to protect the
arches of the bridges below from in
undations. The dyke may have been
effective in its prime, but every re-
cent incendation, caused by melting
SHOWS of the mountains swelling the
river, has wrought irreparable dam