The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-07-24

We approached Verona after a
storm. On our left the clouds lay low
and black over the gorgeous silver
crown of the Alps and the lesser hills.
Suddenly, as the sun slowly sank, the
black shadows caught the golden glow
upon their TANKS ard outskirts, and as
they gradually lifted from the noun
tains their draggled and tattered hens
were FURNISHED and TRANSPORTED into
golden fleece Then the sun, olsen
gray, scattered a golden dust over the
whole sky of soft clouds through which
the pearl pink tints struggled for as
cendancy, and the scene became one of
bewiidering enchantment. A rainbow
is the most theatrical of all natures
effects and always appears at the right
moment. So it did now, and for the
first time 1 looked away for the sun.
1T was fast setting behind its bull
wark of flame and the burning Gin
ders, grouped like honey-cornb or fret
work piles of gorgeous color, around
the receding torch that lit them into
glory. I never saw anything at once
so startling and yet so harmonious, and
when you add to this the scenery of
mountain and lake and valley, and vii
1age and height, with castles poised up
on every pinnacle, their white faces lit
by the same strange and wondrous
glory, you Will not suppose that one
who has witnessed it can ever forget an
Italian sunset.
Paul Veronese, the painter. and Ro-
meo, of the firm of Romeo and Juliet,
and Caro1us Magnus, and Catullus, and
Theodore, and Marius were all reput-
ed natives of Verona, and-I suppose it
is sacriligeous to say it-were all more
or less frauds in the opinion of the
writer. have yet seen no painting by
Paul veronese that to my inartistic eye
was especially excellent. In the DuIaz-
20 palace at Genoa, there is life size
painting by him of Judith standing by
the headless trunk of Holofernes. and
holding in her hand the head, to OBJ
tain which she had been at SO much
trouble. Now, if you take newspaper
or a piece of cloth and cover the lower
part of that picture, I will venture the
assertion that not one spectator in Il
thousand can tell from the expression
of Judith's face whether she is judith.
bath, or a market girl of Naples. One
would think that her horrid burden
would be indicated by her face, but she
is as placid as a May morning, and
it might be a pumpkin she has in her
hand for all her yisage indicates.
Another son of Verona was Marius,
who is supposed to be especially de-
serving of remembrance on account of
his having folded. his arms and gazed
at the ruins of Carthage. 1t would
have been much more to his credit if
he had borrowed a wheelbarrow and
commenced removing the ruins pre-
paratory to rebuilding as an honest
citizen of Chicago would have done.
Still another distinguished Veroaan
was Catullus. There are a dozen or
more monuments of him IN the public |
places, and the town is known to Pc
dants as ''the city of Catullus;" yet, as
poet, Catullus never ranked with |
great classical authors and / doubt if |
an English translation of his works can |
be found.
We visited the tomb of Juliet, whose !
conduct with Romeo, although highly |
poeticaI, was not entirely correct. 1t is |
a rusty and weather-beaten sarcop- |
hagus in a garden on the bank of the |
river. Unlike any other tomb 1 have |
ever seen, it is so arranged as to give |