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

s.s. Sc. s-e-se
the occupant plenty of fresh air, and
there is a species of marble pillow in il
on which to lay the head; there is also
a socket wherein may be placed can
die or torch. Every possible provision
is made for the comfort of the remains
in the way of light and air. But it is
very doubtful whether this commodious
grave is that of Juliet at all. The guide
book says of it that it is called the
tomb of Juliet and whenever a guide
book expresses doubt, the subject is
very doubtful.
Ruins of Roman edifices and relics Of
Roman rule are everywhere visible in
Verona The present vegetable market
is in the old Roman forum, and ven
doris of beets and broccoli, lentils and
lettuce, cry their wares where of old
the voices of Senators and Pro-consuls
were heard. Perhaps twenty centuries
hence some dusky daughter of the rul-
ing race of America shall vend string
beans on the very spot where Foraker
now sounds his bazoo, or the blazing
July sun of the thirty-ninth century
will ripen the stock in trade of a Celtic
fruit peddler, on the marble steps which
have shaken beneath the tread of the
majestic Mark Hanna.
The amphftheatre at Verona is form
ed of blocks of marble which have de-
fed the ravages of time and the as
sauits of the barbarian hordes. One
piece of wall, over eighty feet in height,
remains with all its arches and decora-
lions to this day. The Coliseum at
Rome is larger, but not more perfect
than is this ruin of a great and costly
public edifice. The old town hail-now
a barrack, the ancient council hall
now a ruin, the Roman gateways and
the remains of the old wall, all speak
of the glories and achievements of the
race that is lost and gone.
Never was I so impressed with the
worthlessness of human achievements,
and the utter trifingness of human am
bition. What is the use of struggling
and sacrificing, and combining and eau
cusing to get yourself elected a member
of the Arizona legislature? Why vex
your digestion eating at democratic
barbecues, or howl yourself hoarse de-
Tending the principles of Republican
ism, and lose sleep, and scatter your
bright ducats to the winds, in order to
gain a gubernatoriaI chair or a sena-
torial seat? Four or five hundred years
and it will be all the same. A few
names only survive the ages-Caesar
and Cicero, Hannibal and Demosthenes,
Alexander and Pericles, exist in his
tory; but what of the ten thousand
orators and warriors of antiquity who
have Joined the shades Of the great
but aforementioned dead? Who can say
a. thousand years hence whether the
private ledger of the ship building trust
was a work of poetry or of history?
VIII it be known in the thirtieth CEN
fury whether the Southern Pacific
Company was in the habit of going
the State of California, or the
representatives and senators of the
State of California made a practice of
going through" the Southern Pacific
Company? And even the memories
which survive will probably be all mix
ed up. Future histories may describe
Vanderbilt as a great naval hero, John
p. Morgan as the first humorist of the
age, Phil Sheridan as an Indian huma-
Mark Twain as a Puritan
class leader, George F. Hoar as shout
der striker, and VIM. Randolph Hearst
as a great Mormon prophet.
Fame is a folly. I will never again
be an aspirant for Assistant Alderman
of my ward.
Verona was ruled first by one petty
Italian family, and then by another,
until, between four hundred and five
hundred years since, its people volun-
tarily gave their city to Venice, and
since then it has shared the vicissitudes
of Venetia. The Austrians attained the
in 1915, and greatly strengthen
ed it's fortresses, and under their aus
pices it became a part of the famous
Quadrilateral. Perhaps no spot on
earth has been so battled over for two
thousand years as has the country
about Verona. Civil and foreign wars,
wars of religion and conquest, wars of
clan and of race, wars of dynasties and
Of despotisms, have all been fought
within sight of it's ancient towers, and
the Adige has run red with human
blood hundreds and hundreds of times.
The city has been ruled by Roman and
Goth, by Frank and Hun, by Charlie
magne and Pepin, by Guelph and Ghib-
oeIine, by Lombard Prince and Tuscan
autocrat, and somehow it always pros
pered except under Austrian dominion.
The people never would Germanize,
and during the half century of white
coat sway, the citizens could never be
brought to look upon their rulers as
,ther than foreign tyrants,'' "hated
whose presence was the
lpas-tree of all progress, and the blight
lpon all industry. Since Francis Joseph
was driven out Of Italy, and Verona
with Venice has become a part of the
italian kingdom, its ancient prosperity
has been partially restored, its streets
ire again busy, and its marts again
knowledge is power but the pos
session of the means of acquiring
is not the thing itself, and
,reat libraries are not always the sign
If great erudition. Nowhere is this