The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-03-19

In the rural districts of the Roman
| empire virtue dwelt. There were pu-
rity and truth and honor. There the
| women lived. like Caesars wife. above
| suspicion. There thousands and tens
| of thousands of CurnelaS had their
| most precious Jewels in the setting Of
Il cradle. From tue pure, sweet whole
some life Of the rural districts Of
| Rome came the men who filled up the
| legiOnS of Caesar, which defended the
| Roman power from the Atlantic ocean
on the one side to the TigriS on the
| east, from the Danube on the north to
! the Sahara desert on the south The
| men who conquered the then known
| world under julius Caesar and Angus
| tuS We're not the dehauched Valctudi-
narians from the polluted palaces of
| Rome. These warriors were the phys
! zeal and mental giants who came from
| the rural districts of Italy as the
| strength Of the French republic Is
| found in the country life of France
and not in the haunts of the dissipated
| youth of Paris.
The Life of Old Italy.
If the moral life of old Italy was not
pure and domesticalIy wholesome. how
| can YOU account for the noble career
of Tiberius Gracious, the father of the
two famous GracChi - how for tina:
firm. intleXible stole. the Count Leo
Tolstoi of Julius Caesars time, Mar
Gus Porcius Cato? They say that Gin
cinnatus, the legendary hero of Rome
was twice offered the dictatorship of
Rome when in farmers dress he was
guiding the plOW over his farm. 1t is
also said that as soon as Cincinnatus
left the dictatorship he again returned.
like Washington, to his pillow. If the
moral life of Italy was not domestic
ally pure and wholesome, how can You
account for the purity and the nobility
and the virtue Of Octavia. the sister of
Augustus. whose beauty and virtue for
centuries have been sounded by every
Roman historians lip? Again, when
Julia, the only daughter of Augustus
became proHigate. how can YOU ac-
count for the fact that her father in
anger cXiled her to the barren island
of Pandateria and sent one of her
guilty paramonrs to the grave? Would
Augustus ever have done that unless
virtue aud purity were intrenched in
thousands of, moral homes? All. no;
ROnle'S debauChery was not the moral
type Of rural Italy. It was not the
omit I,,r Ia :tIs
Augustus hoyho0d home is to he
judged. If all men of Italy We're de-
based and all women their companions
in sin. Augustus would not have
Trung his hands at the pprfidy of his
only child and cried out in agony. "Ah.
would that I had never entered we'd
lock and had died a childress man"
1t was in pure. noble high thinking
simple living home of rural Italy that
I think the centurion of my text was
born.
The Scene Changes.
Again the scene changes Now
would have YOU stand in the very cen
ter of all the sin and debauchery and
moral filth Of the great capital of the
Caesars. The year is about Is A. D.
The Augustinian reign was drawing to
a close. The greatest of Roman rulers
next to Julius Caesar himself was
about to die. The political world was
filed with plots and counterplots and
Instructions The king is almost
dead Who shall be the next kingT'
fi,n hp
hand of Augustus. that royal master
of men, that hand which was as soft
as velvet and ,et as strong as steel
was beginning to loose its yiselike
grip. The splendor of the Roman CAPT
tai haG drawn the wealthy prodigalS
into its debauching maelstrom and II
centiousness. and unbridled passions
were running riot everywhere.
It was into such mad scene of was
sail and carousal that. [ think, this
centurion Of my text. then young
man of sixteen or eighteen summers,
was indicted. In order to understand
what kind Of temptations assailed the
moral character and the spiritual life
Of this young man | would have you
for a little while wander through the
excavated ruins of old Pompeii. You
know that the most famous eruption
of Mount Vesuvius took place only
some threescore years after Augustus
died. At that eruption of 70 A. ID. God
seemed to put out his hand and say: Il
will cover up this city in beds of lava.
Then nearly 1000 years later [ will lift
my hand and show to the world how
low and vile and bestial and immorally
corrupt great capital can become
when it is drunk with wealth and sin
full reveIries and when man, unbridled
In his evil desires, can become viler In
his desires than the four footed swine
shouting for their food amid the re-
pulsive stencil of city's refuse" And
this is Just what God did. In an in
slant the earth was rocking In the
agony of an earthquake. In an instant
the heavens were covered with leaping
flames In an instant the great rivers |
of molten lava were rolling down the
sides Of the volcano. In an instant |