The Redwood gazette., 1902-08-06
one or two walks which we took and

one or two walks which we took and
what we saw.
One afternoon we went out past
the theatre of Marcellus and the
ancient portico of Octavia, whom
history records as the one good
woman Of Imperial Rome. Only
few marble columns now remain of
the gate built in her honor, but they
are sufficient to keep her memory
alive. We crossed the narrow,
dirty streets OF the Ghetto and stood
before the Palace of the Cinci. a
great, gloomy, sin haunted pile of
brick, which seems almost to have
inherited the curse OF the family
who lived there, for it is now the
resort of the most squalid and sor-
did Of this wretched part of Rome.
| wondered if sad-eyed Beatrice
had looked from those windows on
world too difficult for her slender
strength, and if after ALL it had not
been relief when the problems Of
her life were solved in the gloomy
prison of St. Angelo. when she was
executed. Rome makes one cOntin-
ually ask oneself such questions.
Those people no longer seem myths
and story book characters. but liv-
ing. human beings like ourselves,
who across the years. are suggest
ing again and again the questions
to which they found no answers.
, Poor Beatrice she was very young
| to see life SO seriously.
We passed the house where it is
said St. Paul lived during his resi-
dence in Rome. but | am inclined tc
t think that such points are very
} doubtful. At any rate it was avery
old house with one beautiful win
r dow framed iu slender columns o.
: twisted marble, and if St. Pau
} didn live there It doesn t max
{ much difference. We finished tha
stroll by a glimpse Of Pompev s
e statue. at whose base Caesar fel
] stabbed by the ingratitude of hi:
enemies, and also visited two OF
e three churches in the vicinity, bu
q that is subject which | cannot at
+, tempt. When I say that Rome ha:
t about nine hundred churches. and
j. visited about sixty. you will prob
d ably see why.
S Ofcourse we visited the cataconbs
e and very gruesome and unpleasan
:. they are too, | don t exactly know
q why, for there are no unpleasan
e sights, but the impression given b.
?, miles and miles Of labyrinthine pas
}, sages lighted only by our feebl
= tapers, the earth honey y-combed wit
10 CCilS w uClC OuSC iCpCSCd
st bodies or the fragments that IT
d NAMED after nartvrdom and th
ID realization of the sutferings whic
n the early Christians must have el
le dured when they were forced
a seek those chambers of death f(
ID safety, is far from agreeable.
" gets on to ones nerves some wa
IS and affects ones imagination. 1
1e matter how calm and prosaic /
t. may BE-
ID The Colosseum is perhaps tt
S. most interesting of all the ruins
as Rome. mean to me, for natural
Or archaologists find more of intere
ct In the Forum and on the Palatir
re Hill. The guide at 1.-The Colosseu
of is very amusing. Among othe
a things he leads you to a dark CO.
I'd cred passage aud diCsays in a mo!
60 seDulchral tone: That is the pas
1e age where the wild beasts entered.
le He is so intensely impressive abo1
is it all that you fairly expect to see
ID few lions come ramping down nov
O. But it is a magnificent ruin and
is must have been a splendid buildln
ut in the days Of its prosperity.
S. We went uug one evening, /
50 moonlight, risking malaria and a
the other dread diseases which a.
supposed to lurk in that viciDl'
~ after night:aIl The effect OF lig1
ne and shade was so beautiful
re and in the ghostly light OF