Evening star., 1903-12-19
THE T0MDS OF ROME
That of Caius Cestius the
Oldest of ALI.
WHERE THE BODY OF AUGUSTUS
WAS CREMATED.
Where the Remains of Hadrian Were
Laid-Monument to Victor EN-
manuel-Progress Slow.
BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record-Herald
ROME, December 10, 1903
The monument to the late King Victor
Emmanuel, which Is being erected at the
head of the Corso, the most famous street
in Rome. and is to occupy the breast of the
Capitolne Hill. is progressing very slowly.
The cost will be enormous, and various rea-
sons are assigned for the delay. One is that
the ministry 60 not consider it good policy
to ask large appropriations from the par
lament, but the excuse given to the public
is that the quarry from which the marble
has been taken is exhausted. and that
search is now being made for other stone
of the same texture.
1t is designed to be one of the noblest. as
it will be one of the most imposing and ex-
pensive monuments ever erected to human
being In cost. in extent and grandeur 1t
will compare favorably with those which
the Roman emperors erected to themselves
or to their ancestors. The statue of the
king, which is to crown great pedestal at
the top of long flights of marble steps ana
coionnades. is being nodded in what is now
known as the Theater I1mberto, but was
originally the tomb of Augustus, the great
emperor which he erected for himself, and
next to the tomb of Hadrian, now known
as Castle st. Angelo, was the most sptendlo
mausoleum In the world.
The only one of the great tombs OF ancient
Rome that remains undisturbed is pyra-
mid beyond the walls of the city, erected
before the Christian era, to receive the re-
mains of an obscure pagan named NCalus
Cestius We know nothing of him except
that he builded better than he knew, for his
sepulcher has been preserved intact, whlie
those of emperors, warriors and statesmen
have been torn down or diverted to other
purposes. He must have been rich man.
because the tomb cost large sum OF mon
ey and he must have had influence, be-
cause of it's location, near one Of the great
gates, could not have been obtained by an
ordinary citizen. 1t stands on the sioe OF
the Appian Way, near the three fountains
where St Paul was beheaded, and the great
basilica founded by the Emperor Constan-
tine to cover the apostles tomb. Behlnd II
is the Protestant cemetery. shaded by
grove of splendid trees, under whose
shadows sleep the poet Keats, whose name
was writ In water the poet Shelley and
several other distinguished Englishmen and
Americans.
Oldest Roman Monument.
The tomb of Caius Cestius is the Oldest
monument In Rome which has retained IT'S
original shape and condition and has been
left undisturbed by the generations that
have lived around it for more than l9oo
years. 1t was erected and occupied by the
remains of its builder before that Babe was
born in the stable at Bethlehem before the
name Christian was added to the vocabu-
larry of mankind: when the emperors OF
Rome were worshiped as divfntt1es ana peo-
nile believed that the successful generals
became gods when they died.
1t Is wonderful to think OF the long pro-
cession of men the world has caiied FAMOUS
who have passed this tomb and have COM
mented upon its perfect proportions and
beautiful simplicity. st. Paul and st. Peter,
no doubt often rested upon It's pedestal al
the gates. for 1t stands beside the pain
they often took to the catacombs. where
the early Christians wOrshiped- Horace, fhe
poet. must frequently. have seen 1t, for he
went out that way to the villas OF his r1cn
friends; Marcus Aurelius. that pompouS OLD
maxim maker; Augustus Caesar. who was
one of the keenest politicians that ever
lived; Nero, Caligula the wicked and ira
gan. the good emperor; King Alfred the
Great. Charlemagne and Napoieon Bona,
parte those three types of warriors and
monarchs each of his own striking 1ndi-
yiduality; Godfrey de Bouillon and Richard
the Lionhearted have both been there; st.
Benedict. st. DOMINIC, st. FRANCIS, Stc Au-
gustine, St Jerome st. Ignatius and Greg
ory. the greatest of the popes, each passed
by the tomb many time; raphael ana
Michel Angelo, Titan and Leonardo de
Ytnci Luther and Calico Dante. Petrarch,
Tasso, Goethe Keats and many other po-
cts and artists have been there. and. in
deed. we might extend this list indefinitely
to include all people of fame who have ever
visited Rome, because we know that every
body came this way sooner or later. 1t
was one of the three great tomps OF Rome
and as I have said, the only perfect one
which has never been diverted from its
purpose.
Tomb Of Augustus.
The tomb of the great Augustus. although
much more imposing In it's proportions and
haar ha de-
graded again and again. and. after being
abandoned for years. Is now the studio of
the artist who is making the statue for the
great kings monument. We are told that
the site upon which it stands was a grassy
meadow when the mausoleum was erected.
and that it was an immense circular struc-
ture with a central rotunda and lofty dome
reached by three wide terraces of marble
covered with earth and planted with cy-
presses, among which the public could
promenade. The central part under the
dome was temple intended for the wor-
ship of Augustus. and was surrounded by
numerous chambers, row above row, in
which the bodies of members of the imperial
family, with their slaves and freedmen,
We're laid until the tombs were filled. In
the center of the rotunda the ashes of the
great founder of the Roman empire was
laid while his statue was placed upon the
summit of the dome. A basket full of earth
was brought from every kingdom in the
world and scattered upon the terraces as
tribute from all nations to the greatness of
Augustus.
The mute massveness of the great walls
remains alone to testify to the former mag
nifcence of this building. which is said to
have cost millions of dollars even in those
days. The wall are eighteen feet thick, and
the central rotunda. which held the sar-
cophagus OF Augustus, is 12O feet In dame
ter.
Two obelisks which stood at the entrance
are preserved. one of them now standing
opposite the entrance of the QuirinaI Pal
ace and the other in the plaza that
fronts the Basilica of ST. Maria Ma
giore The palace Of the Borghese FAM
lily. the largest private residence in Rome,
was built with materials taken from Its
walls by Paul v. the most extravagant of
all the popes. who was a Borghese The
garden of the Borghese Palace has a beau
tifui cloistered courtyard surrounded by an
open arcade with seventy monoliths of mar
BILE. all of which were taken from the maui
soieum of Augustus. But long before that
II had been partially destroyed by the bar
barians under Alaric and had been used for
a century as fortress by the Colonna fam
iiy; 1t was then converted into a theater
and afterward circus, and I'm 1923 was