The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-01-03
Gothic architecture and Roman "re-

GOthlc architecture ana Roman re
mains and delightful air of having
been dead a thousand years, 1t stands
unequalled First, It's cyclopean ruins,
on the highest point facing the sea,
anti-date historic times. Under the
Romans it became the winter residence
of the praetor, with population Of over
million, Pliny describes its fertile
plain and the wines that were made
here. The brothers Publces and One
jus Scipio resided here thirty years B.
c., and Augustus made it his capital
after his Cantabrian campaigns 1t
was from this city that his decree was
issued which closed the temple of ia
nus. In that early time, when the gans
togata-"lordS of the world"--reigned
/ in Taragona, it had a mint and temples
to every god, goddess and tutelar, in
GLIDING one to the emperor Augusta
Dive, thus making a god of him while
yet in the flesh. This temple was af-
forwards repaired by Adrian and some
fragments of it may to-day be seen in
the closters of the cathedral. Then the
Goths had their turn, and Tarragona
became their capital. Then the Moors,
under Tariff, made of the city
heap" and its ruins remained uninhab-
tied for four hundred years. About the
year HOO San Oldegar, of Barcelona,
granted the site to Robert Bardet,
Norman warrior, whose wife, Sibylla,
kept armed watch on the walls during
her husbands frequent absences and
beat back the Moors. For many years
the old town remained frontier for
tress and nothing more, for Christian
commerce conferred at Barcelona, while
Moorish traffic preferred Valencia. In
later days Tarragona has had its full
share OF wars. 1t was backed by SUI
chet in 1871 and again by Soulte, and
yet again by the Anglo Sicilian army
under Sir John Murray; while every
revolution that has ever harrassed the
north of Spain, and every foreign raid
from across the border, has striven to
possess this coveted key to the situa-
ton
You may spend a week here, looking
at nothing but ancient ruins. Just
across the street from the Fonda de
Paris--a handsome modern hotel--rises
remarkable Roman tower known as
the Torrion. A few rods farther on
stands the Quartet de Pilatos-another
Roman remain" Pontius PLATE being
claimed as townsman by the Tara
gonese. Probably the lower part of the
ediflce aute-d dates the Roman era. Au-
gustus is said to have made it his pail
ace; and after being half destroyed by
Suchet, it was turned into a prison
No wonder 1t has stood so many centu-
RES, its walls, in places being on the
highdoad to Lerida, may be seen the
L. ,f D.
man acqueduct which supplied the
ancient city with water from distance
of twenty miles. The bridge which
spans the valley at this point is ninety
six feet high and has double tier of
twenty?fve arches above and eleven be-
low. 10 this day, almost intact, with
only a slight break at one end, the
ochre-colored acqueduct striding the
deep ravine looks indeed the work of
those times when there were giants on
the earth.
Following a rough road between pine
clad hills, down to a sheltered bay of
the Mediterranean, where fishermen
haul in their heavy nets and lateen-
rugged feluccas dot the intensely blue
sea, you may find Roman sepulchre,
known as La Tore de los Escipinos, the
tomb of the Scipios; though nobody
knows exactly where those modest
monument is of stone, square and
about thirty feet high Two flgurea
stand in front, and over their battered
heads runs Latin inscription, worn
illegible centuries ago.
Though the English carried off ship
loads of antiquities, in 1772, the town is
still full of them, Precious fragments |
are built into the walls of private |
houses and are preserved in many pa
tics. Tafragona's museum contains a |
great number of Roman statues in Gre |
clan marble and bronze; fragments |
from the Temple of Jupiter, ancient |
mosaics and no end of other priceless
relics.
FANNIE B. WARD.