The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02


not, a. | dare say the reader iknofantfy
snpposes. D TesIduum OF the old Roman
Senate, but was the dictator whom the
medieval republic summoned from WITHIN
or without to be its head and the safeguard
from the aristocracy) there would be be-
yond the chamber where the actual city
council Of Rome meets under the presidency
Of the Mayor the great public rooms ban
nered and memorialled around with heroic
and historic blazons; and last there would
be the private where the syndio de-
: votes himself TO civic affairs when he can
urn from the sight Of the Roman Forum.
with q ~peripatetio Archaeological lscturips
, a group OF earliest Americans. while long
velvety shadows Of, imperial purple stretch
from the sunset on the softly rounded and
followed ruins Of the Palatine.
But II each of these bare facts could be
parted from the others and intelligently
presented. what would 1t avail with the
reader who has never seen the originals
Of my photograph It Ia from some such
question and not from want Of Q hospitahle
will that hesitate, to ask him TO 20 with
me on a golden morning Of March and
spend It In the villa Medid on the Pincian
Hill. II I oould / should like to pour tn
y~ellowness and m~ellowness round him.
perfumed with q potpourri Of associations
from the time Of Luoullus down through
every medieva and modern time to that
very day when ] knew Carofis Duran to
be living somewhere In these beauteous
bounds at the head Of the French school
Of art which has is home tn them. The
academic garden paths. with q few happy
people wandering between their correctly
balanced passages Of box; the blond facade
Of the casino looking down with its statues
and reliefs OF these parterres; q young
girl vanishing up an aisle Of the grove
beside the garden into whatever dream
awaited her youth on the leafy dusk; an
old American pair gazing after her from
the terrace. with the void Of the vanished
years aching in their hearts for the Rome
that was once young with them-does this
represent to the reader an appreeiable
morning In the villa Medici2 He maj be
grateful to me IL II does, and II he likes.
! cannot do more for him without doing
less. and yet I know IL Il d palette rather
than q picture I am giving him.
All the while I was there. the guest Of
the French nation by the payment Of so
confines gate money. I was obscurely
reeentins its retention Of q place which
Bonaparte bestowed upon the First Re-
public with 30 much other loot from Italy.
But now / have lately heard that the mag
unanimous Third Republic Ii going to restore
1t to the people rightfully It's owners. and
the remembrance Of my morning in the
villa Medici will remain an unalloyed de-
light. SO few joys in this world, sven in the
very capital Of it, are without some touch
Of abatement. I could not 30 much 90
visit the catacomfjs Of Domatilla without
suffering a Illustration which. though in
ctdental merely, left q lasting pang Of I'm
Seauited interest. As we drew toward the
place I saw in a field the inception OF one
Of those domestic dramas which are not
attributable to. Italy alone. Three peas
ants. a man and two women. were engaged
in controversy which on his side the MAJ
supported with both hands tapping wildly
At the heads Of the women. who alertly
lodged and circled around him In the
endeavor to close in upon him. It was
instantly conjecturable, II not apparent,
that they were his wife and daughter,
and that he was the worse for the vintage
Of their home acre and would be the better
for being got into the house and into bed.
~The conjecture enlisted the worthisr In
stincts Of the witness on the side Of the
mother and daughter. but he was In no
hurry to ave the animated action brought
to a close and was about to tell his cab
man to drive very. very slowly. when sud-
denly the cab descended into a valley and
when the eager spectator rose to his former
level again the stone wall had risen with
him and he never knew the end of hat pas
sage Of real life.
1t was impossible to bid the cabman
drive back FOR the close Of the scene; the
abrupt conclusion must be accepted as
final; but it is proof Of the charm I found
in the gentle guide who presently began to
marshal us among the paths Of the SUBJ
%terranean sanctuary and cemetery that
for the moment my bitter sense Of loss was
assuaged. and IL only returns now at long
intervals. Such g the woman actors In
this brief scene were some early Christians
might have been. and 1t must nave been
the stubborn old pagan spirit l saw sur
vfving In the husband and father. He
was probably such q vessel Of wrath as,
being filed with Baochus. would have lent
itself to the prosecuting rage of Domitian
and helped drive the Emperor's gentle
cousin Domatilla into the exile whence
she returned to found a Christian oeme-
terry in her villa grounds. One under
stands, Of course. under tn, villa grounds;
for the catacombs in some places reach as
many as five levels below the surface. 1
will not follow the reader with that kind Of |
guide who will cheer his wanderines through
these sunless corridors Of death. where many
OF the sleepers still lie sealed within their
tombs on either hand. and show him
by the smoky taper's light the fresooes
which adorn the cramped chapels. I pre-
fer to stand at the top Of he entrance and
ask him IL he noticed how the artist some
times seemed moi to know whether he was
a Pagan or a Christian. and did not mind,
for instance. putting a Mercury at the
heads Of the horses In an ascent Of Elijah. |
Perhaps the artist was really a Pagan and
thought a Greek god as good as a Hebrew
prophet any day; art was one OF the last
things to be converted. having probably q
presentiment OF the dark and bloody themes
the new religion would give 1t to deal with.
The earthly scent Of the catacomb will
cling to the readers clothes, and he win
have two minds about keeping the taper
which he carried. and which the r,jde