Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1902-03-22

Oh france until 1871, having passed
into his hands from the Farnese family
many years before, and during his
exile in England they were the only
property he retained in Rome. The
Farnese family filled up the walls of
the roofiess palaces with earth and
made a garden on them, in the midst
of which they built a beautiful villa.
and there spent the hot weeks of the
summer. After it passed u of their
possession, while Napoleon owned 1t,
the soil that covered the palaces of the
Caesars became a truck garden and
produced carrots and cabbages for the
people of Rome. The only modern
buildings now standing there are the
cottages of the gardeners, a v of
the Sisters of the Visitation and a mo-
mastery of monks, both of which will
be pulled down and removed within a
few years. Then the excavations which
were begun in 1861 and have been
going on systematically since, under
the direction of the government arch
biologists will be continued and the re-
mainder of the palace of the Caesars
will be disclosed.
We can see now the stately arches
and s~tupendous walls, six, eight and
ten feet thick, inclosing spacious
~ oiio Whlth WSlt OllCt
lined with purple and marble and en-
bellished with ivory and gliding, and
witnessed the incredible atrocities
which occurred during the century be-
fore and the century after the coming
of Christ. The imperial palace was
enormous, covering several square
miles, and 1t Is scarcely possible to be-
lieve the statements that are given us
by the Psychologists concerning the
splendor of the golden house of Nero,
whose colonnades extended for miles
and were filled with the most splendid
works of art that the taste and the
genius of man has ever produced. The
earth itself vas exhausted to adorn
this gigantic monument to the vanity
of an abominable monster. Greece was
stripped of statues, bronzes and mar
bles. The gilded walls were so lofty
that the colossal statue which erected
in his own honor, 120 feet high, was
not out of proportion. Porticoes a mile
in length, like the colonnades of ST.
Peters, led to this glorious hall, sup
ported by columns of marble of deli
cate tints, and even of alabaster, from
chambers lined with gold, Jewels and
mother of pearl, with ceilings Of ivory
carved and perforated SO that per-
fumes and flowers could be scattered
upon the occupants, and dining halls
with movable floors, that could be low
cred at the will of the master like mag
ic to reappear laden with sumptuous
%banQuets. The bathrooms were filed
with alabaster tubs and supplied with
salt water pumped in pipes twelve
miles from the ga, and all this for the
most infamous lunatic that ever con-
troiled the lives and happiness of men.
Here Nero witnessed the massacre
of his victims; here the gladiators
fought for his amusement, and come
dams acted ~farces; here his banquets
and orgies with profiigate companions
were held, and hundreds of depraved
artists ministered to the vices of a
thick-necked degenerate, short, fat and
f1abby, with small greenish eyes. ir-
regular features and a hideous express
sion.
Upon the site of a pagan temple Al
exander Severes, who was emperor
of Rome, from 222 to 235 A. D., erected
a chapel called the Lalarium, in
which a statue of Christ among the
images of the pagan gods and the
defied Caesars. On n side of it
was a statue of Abraham, upon the
other a figure of Orpheus. Historians
say that he offered sacrifices to the
three every morning, the God of Mu-
sic, the Father of Israel and the Re-
deemer of Mankind, and that he
caused to be inscribed in golden let
tiers over the entrance to the palace
of Caesars the words of Jesus. the
rCclden rule of Christianity, DO we
into others MS We would have them
do unto you"
What hide5us %revels, What treach-
cry, vice, folly and crime were COM
mitted amidst this glory and splen-
dor. where now are stables for mules.
lofts for hay, cabbage gardens and
a home for nuns. Nothing so strong
ly impresses the visitor to Rome as
the contrasts, and perhaps We should
admit at once that everything might
occur in a city that would allow the
tomb of Augustus Caesar to be used
for a circus. For a score OF years he
was the only and absolute sovereign
of the civilized world. He conquered
all nations and drove the ~barbarians
back into the wilderness. He pro-
claimed universal peace and closed
the temples of Janus. Before his bur
ial casket a statue of solid gold was
carried, and his tomb cost millions
of dollars. He did more for Rome
than any other of its rulers, and per-
haps advanced civilization more rap
idly than any other man who e
lived-and to think that the temple
which he built to shelter his remains
should be degraded to the lowest
form of public amusement known to
a depraved people. Clowns in fan
tastic clothing and with faces painted
white, their lips red and their cheeks
blue. now caper around nightly scream
ing their vulgar jokes where the ashes
of the greatest of Roman emperors
once reposed.
Did you eve see the CHASTITY Stats
istics of the palaces upon the Pala-
tine? OF the forty-three emperors who
occupied them, thirty-two died with
their boots on. No Caesar died without
either a crime or a suspicion of a
crime. and ever Livia, the wife of Au-
gustus, who lived to be sc years old
n to realize the ~fullness of her ambi-
] it,, % "a rrraato nvfapt tho, nnrr athnr